THE 

IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

AND  OTHER  STORIES  OF 

THE   NEW  YORK 

GHETTO 


BY 

ABRAHAM   CAHAN 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY 

ftfe  flfoertite  pre#,  Carofcrfoge 
1898 


THE 

IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 
AND  OTHER  STORIES  OF 

THE   NEW  YORK       /\  ^ 

GHETTO  fsjT    2/2 

CZ7 
IV- 

ABRAHAM   CAHAN          ( 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY 

ftt*  ftftiertttw 

1808 


Reproduced  by  DUOPAGE  process 
in  the  United  States  of  America 


MICRO  PHOTO  Division 
Bell  &  Hove 11  Company 

Cleveland  12,  Ohio 


THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 


FLORA  was  alone  in  the  back  parlor,  which 
she  had  appropriated  for  a  sort  of  boudoir. 
She  sat  in  her  rocker,  in  front  of  the  parlor 
stove,  absorbed  in  "  Little  Dorrit."  Her 
well-groomed  girlish  form  was  enveloped  in 
a  kindly  warmth  whose  tender  embrace 
tinged  her  interest  in  the  narrative  with  a 
triumphant  consciousness  of  the  snowstorm 
outside. 

Little  by  little  the  rigid  afternoon  light 
began  to  fade  into  a  melancholy  gray.  Dusk 
was  creeping  into  the  room  in  almost  visible 
waves.  Flora  let  the  book  rest  on  her  lap 
and  fixed  her  gaze  on  the  twinkling  scarlet 
of  the  stove-glass.  The  thickening  twilight, 
the  warmth  of  the  apartment,  and  the  atmo 
sphere  of  the  novel  blended  together,  and  for 
some  moments  Flora  felt  far  away  from  her 
self. 

She  was  the  only  girl  of  her  circle  who 
would  read  Dickens,  Scott,  or  Thackeray  in 


2  THE  IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

addition  to  the  "  Family  Story  Paper  "  and 
the  "  Fireside  Companion,"  which  were  the 
exclusive  literary  purveyors  to  her  former 
classmates  at  the  Chrystie  Street  Grammar 
School.  There  were  a  piano  and  a  neat  little 
library  in  her  room. 

She  was  rather  tall  and  well  formed.  Her 
oblong  ivory  face,  accentuated  by  a  mass  of 
unruly  hair  of  a  lustreless  black,  was  never 
deserted  by  a  faint  glimmer  of  a  smile,  at 
once  pensive  and  arch.  When  she  broke 
into  one  of  her  hearty,  good-natured  laughs, 
her  deep,  dark,  appealing  eyes  would  seem 
filled  with  grief.  Her  nose,  a  trifle  too 
precipitous,  gave  an  unexpected  tone  to  the 
extreme  picturesqueness  of  the  whole  effect, 
and,  when  she  walked,  partook  of  the  dig 
nity  of  her  gait. 

A  month  or  two  before  we  make  Flora's 
acquaintance  she  had  celebrated  her  twen 
tieth  birthday,  having  been  born  in  this  little 
private  house  on  Mott  Street,  which  was 
her  father's  property. 

A  matchmaker  had  recently  called,  and  he 
had  launched  into  a  eulogy  of  a  young  Jew 
ish  physician ;  but  old  Stroon  had  cut  him 
short,  in  his  blunt  way :  his  only  child  was 
to  marry  a  God-fearing  business  man,  and  no 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  3 

fellow  deep  in  Gentile  lore  and  shaving  his  \ 
beard  need  apply.  As  to  Flora,  she  was  burn 
ing  to  be  a  doctor's  wife.  A  rising  young 
merchant,  a  few  years  in  the  country,  was 
the  staple  matrimonial  commodity  in  her  set. 
Most  of  her  married  girl  friends,  American- 
born  themselves,  like  Flora,  had  husbands 
of  this  class  —  queer  fellows,  whose  broken 
English  had  kept  their  own  sweethearts 
chuckling.  Flora  hated  the  notion  of  mar 
rying  as  the  other  Mott  or  Bayard  Street 
girls  did.  She  was  accustomed  to  use  her 
surroundings  for  a  background,  throwing  her 
own  personality  into  high  relief.  But  apart 
from  this,  she  craved  a  more  refined  atmo 
sphere  than  her  own,  and  the  vague  ideal 
she  had  was  an  educated  American  gentle 
man,  like  those  who  lived  uptown. 

Accordingly,  when  the  word  " doctor"  had 
left  the  matchmaker's  lips,  she  seized  upon 
it  as  a  great  discovery.  In  those  days  —  the 
early  eighties  —  a  match  of  this  kind  was 
an  uncommon  occurrence  in  the  New  York 
Ghetto. 

Flora  pictured  a  clean-shaven,  high-hat 
ted,  'spectacled  gentleman  jumping  out  of  a 
buggy,  and  the  image  became  a  fixture  in 
her  mind.  "  I  won't  marry  anybody  except 


4  THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

a  doctor/'  she  would  declare,  with  conscious 
avoidance  of  bad  grammar,  as  it  behooved  a 
doctor's  wife. 

But  what  was  to  be  done  with  father's 
opposition?  Asriel  Stroon  had  never  been 
'the  man  to  yield,  and  now  that  he  grew  more 
devout  every  day,  her  case  seemed  hopeless. 
But  then  Flora  was  her  father's  daughter, 
and  when  she  took  a  resolve  she  could  not 
imagine  herself  otherwise  than  carrying  it 
out,  sooner  or  later. 

Flora's  thoughts  were  flowing  in  this  di 
rection  when  her  father's  gruff  voice  made 
itself  heard  from  the  dining-room  below. 
It  was  the  anniversary  of  his  father's  death. 
In  former  years  he  would  have  contented 
himself  with  obit  services,  at  the  synagogue  ; 
this  time,  however,  he  had  passed  the  day  in 
fasting  and  chanting  psalms  at  home,  in  ad 
dition  to  lighting  his  own  candle  in  front  of 
the  cantor's  desk  and  reciting  Kaddish  for 
the  departed  soul,  at  the  house  of  prayer. 
It  touched  Flora's  heart  to  think  of  him 
fasting  and  praying  all  day,  and,  with  her 
book  in  her  hand,  she  ran  down  to  meet  him. 

44  Just  comin'  from  the  synagogue,  papa  ?  " 
she  greeted  him  affectionately,  in  English. 
"  This  settles  your  fast,  don't  it  ?  " 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  5 

"  It  is  not  so  easy  to  settle  with  Him,  my 
daughter,"  he  returned,  in  Yiddish,  pointing 
to  the  ceiling.  "  You  can  never  be  through 
serving  the  Uppermost.  Hurry  up,  Ta- 
mara !  "  he  added,  in  the  direction  of  the  ad 
joining  kitchen. 

"  You  ain'  goin'  to  say  more  Thilim l  to 
night,  are  you,  pa  ?  " 

"  Why,  does  it  cost  you  too  much  ?  "  he 
snarled  good  humoredly. 

"  Yes  it  does  —  your  health.  I  won't  let 
you  sing  again.  You  are  weak  and  you  got 
enough." 

"  Hush !  It  is  not  potato-soup ;  you  can 
never  have  enough  of  it."  He  fell  to  tug 
ging  nervously  at  his  white  beard,  which 
grew  in  a  pair  of  tiny  imperials.  "  Tamara ! 
It 's  time  to  break  the  fast,  is  n't  it  ?  " 

"You  can  wash  your  hands.  Supper  is 
ready,"  came  the  housekeeper's  pleasant 
voice. 

He  took  off  his  brown  derby,  ami  covered 
his  steel-gray  hair  with  a  velvet  skull-cap ; 
and  as  he  carried  his  robust,  middle-sized 
body  into  the  kitchen,  to  perform  his  ablu 
tions,  his  ruddy,  gnarled  face  took  on  an  air 
of  piety. 

1  Psalms. 


6  THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

When  supper  was  over  and  Asriel  and 
Tamara  were  about  to  say  grace,  Flora  re 
sumed  the  reading  of  her  novel. 

u  Off  with  that  lump  of  Gentile  nastiness 
while  holy  words  are  being  said !  "  the  old 
man  growled. 

Flora  obeyed,  in  amazement.  Only  a  few 
months  before  she  had  seldom  seen  him  in 
tone  grace  at  all.  She  was  getting  used  to 
his  new  habits,  but  such  rigor  as  he  now 
displayed  was  unintelligible  to  her,  and  she 
thought  it  unbearable. 

"  You  can  read  your  book  a  little  after. 
The  wisdom  of  it  will  not  run  away,"  chimed 
in  Tamara,  with  good-natured  irony.  She 
was  a  poor  widow  of  forty.  Asriel  had  en 
gaged  her  for  her  piety  and  for  the  rabbini 
cal  learning  of  her  late  husband,  as  much 
as  for  her  culinary  fame  in  the  Ghetto. 

Asriel  intoned  grace  in  indistinct  droning 
accents.  By  degrees,  however,  as  he  warmed 
up  to  the  Hebrew  prayer,  whose  words  were 
a  conglomeration  of  incomprehensible  sounds 
to  him,  he  fell  to  swaying  to  and  fro,  and 
his  voice  broke  into  an  exalted,  heart-rend 
ing  sing-song,  Tamara  accompanying  him 
in  whispers,  and  dolefully  nodding  her  be- 
wigged  head  all  the  while. 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  1 

Flora  was  moved.  The  scene  was  novel  to 
her,  and  she  looked  on  with  the  sympathetic 
reverence  of  a  Christian  visiting  a  Jewish 
synagogue  on  the  Day  of  Atonement. 

At  last  the  fervent  tones  died  away  in  a 
solemn  murmur.  Silence  fell  over  the  cosy 
little  room.  Asriel  sat  tugging  at  his  scanty 
beard  as  if  in  an  effort  to  draw  it  into  a 
more  venerable  growth. 

"  Flora !  "  he  presently  growled.  "  I  am 
going  to  Europe." 

When  Asriel  Stroon  thought  he  spoke, 
and  when  he  spoke  he  acted. 

44  Goin'  to  Europe !  Are  you  crazy,  papa  ? 
What  are  you  talkin'  about?" 

44  Just  what  you  hear.  After  Passover  I 
am  going  to  Europe.  I  must  take  a  look 
at  Pravly." 

44  But  you  ain't  been  there  over  thirty-five 
years.  You  don't  remember  not'in'  at  all." 

44 1  don't  remember  Pravly  ?  Better  than 
Mott  Street ;  better  than  my  nose.  I  was 
born  there,  my  daughter,"  he  added,  as  he 
drew  closer  to  her  and  began  to  stroke  her 
glossless  black  hair.  This  he  did  so  seldom 
that  the  girl  felt  her  heart  swelling  in  her 
throat.  She  was  yearning  after  him  in  ad 
vance. 


8  THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

Tamara  stared  in  beaming  amazement  at 
the  grandeur  of  the  enterprise.  "  Are  you 
really  going?"  she  queried,  with  a  touch  of 
envy. 

"  What  will  you  do  there  ?  —  It 's  so  far 
away ! "  Flora  resumed,  for  want  of  a  weight 
ier  argument  at  hand. 

"  Never  mind,  my  child  ;  I  won't  have  to 
walk  all  the  way." 

"But  the  Russian  police  will  arrest  you 
for  stayin'  away  so  long.  Did  n't  you  say 
they  would  ?  " 

"  The  kernel  of  a  hollow  nut !  "  he  re 
plied,  extemporizing  an  equivalent  of  "Fid 
dlesticks  ! "  Flora  was  used  to  his  meta 
phors,  although  they  were  at  times  rather 
vague,  and  set  one  wondering  how  they  came 
into  his  head  at  all.  "  The  kernel  of  a  hol 
low  nut !  Show  a  treif1  gendarme  a  A%o- 
sher'2  coin,  and  he  will  be  shivering  with 
ague.  Long  live  the  American  dollar  !  " 

She  gave  him  a  prolonged,  far-away  look, 
and  said,  peremptorily  :  — 

"  Mister,  you  ain'  goin'  nowheres." 

"  Tamara,  hand  me  my  Psalter,  will  you  ?  " 
the  old  man  grumbled. 

1  Food  not  prepared  according  to  the  laws  of 
Moses;  impure.  2  The  opposite  of  treif. 


THE    IMPORTED    BRIDEGROOM  9 

When  the  girl  was  gone,  the  housekeeper 
inquired :  — 

44  And  Flora —  will  you  take  her  along?" 
"What  for?  That  she  might  make  fun 
of  our  ways  there,  or  that  the  pious  people 
should  point  their  fingers  at  her  and  call 
her  Gentile  girl,  hey  ?  She  will  stay  with 
you  and  collect  rent.  I  did  not  have  her  in 
Pravjy,  and  I  want  to  be  there  as  I  used  to. 
I  feel  like  taking  a  peep  at  the  graves  of  my 
folks.  It  is  pulling  me  by  the  heart,  Tam- 
ara,"  he  added,  in  a  grave  undertone,  as  he 
fell  to  turning  over  the  leaves  of  his  Psalter. 

II 

When  Asriel  Stroon  had  retired  from 
business,  he  suddenly  grew  fearful  of  death. 
Previously  he  had  had  no  time  for  that. 
What  with  his  flour  store,  two  bakeries,  and 
some  real  estate,  he  had  been  too  busy  to 
live,  much  less  to  think  of  death.  He  had 
never  been  seen  at  the  synagogue  on  week 
days  ;  and  on  the  Sabbath,  when,  enveloped 
in  his  praying-shawl,  he  occupied  a  seat  at 
the  East  Wall,  he  would  pass  the  time 
drowsing  serenely  and  nodding  unconscious 
approval  of  the  cantor's  florid  improvisa- 


10  THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

tions,  or  struggling  to  keep  flour  out  of  his 
mind,  where  it  clung  as  pertinaciously  as  it 
did  to  his  long  Sabbath  coat. 

The  first  sermon  that  failed  to  lull  him 
to  sleep  was  delivered  by  a  newly  landed 
preacher,  just  after  Asriel  had  found  it 
more  profitable  to  convert  his  entire  pro 
perty  into  real  estate.  The  newcomer  dwelt, 
among  other  things,  upon  the  fate  of  the 
wicked  after  death  and  upon  their  forfeited 
share  in  the  World  to  Come.  As  Asriel 
listened  to  the  fiery  exhortation  it  suddenly 
•  burst  upon  him  that  he  was  very  old  and 
very  wicked.  "  I  am  as  full  of  sins  as  a 
watermelon  is  of  seeds,"  he  said  to  himself, 
on  coining  out  of  the  synagogue.  "  You  may 
receive  notice  to  move  at  any  time,  Asriel. 
And  where  is  your  baggage?  Got  anything 
to  take  along  to  the  other  world,  as  the 
preacher  said,  hey  ?  " 

Alas !  he  had  been  so  taken  up  with 
earthly  title  deeds  that  he  had  given  but 
little  thought  to  such  deeds  as  would  entitle 
him  to  a  "  share  in  the  World  to  Come ; " 
and  while  his  valuable  papers  lay  secure 
between  the  fireproof  walls  of  his  iron  safe, 
his  soul  was  left  uiterly  exposed  to  the 
flames  of  Sheol. 


THE    IMPORTED    BRIDEGROOM  11 

Then  it  was  that  he  grew  a  pair  of  bushy 
sidelocks,  ceased  trimming  his  twin  goatees, 
and,  with  his  heart  divided  between  yearn 
ing  after  the  business  he  had  sold  and  wor 
rying  over  his  sins,  spent  a  considerable 
part  of  his  unlimited  leisure  reading  psalms. 

What  a  delight  it  was  to  wind  off  chapter 
after  chapter !  And  how  smoothly  it  now 
came  off,  in  his  father's  (peace  upon  him!) 
sing-song,  of  which  he  had  not  even  thought 
for  more  than  thirty  years,  but  which  sud 
denly  camo  pouring  out  of  IUH  throat,  to 
gether  with  the  first  verse  ho  chanted  1  Not 
that  Asriel  Stroon  could  have  told  you  tho 
meaning  of  what  he  was  so  zestfully  inton 
ing,  for  in  his  boyhood  ho  had  scarcely  gono 
through  tho  Pentateuch  when  ho  was  sot  to 
work  by  his  father's  side,  at  flax  heckling. 
But  then  the  very  sounds  of  the  words  and 
tho  hereditary  intonation,  added  to  tho  con 
sciousness  that  it  was  psalms  ho  was  recit 
ing,  "  made  every  lino  melt  like  sugar  in  his 
mouth,"  as  he  once  described  it  to  the  de 
vout  housekeeper. 

Ho  grew  more  pious  and  exalted  every 
day,  and  by  degrees  fell  prey  to  a  fooling 
to  which  he  had  been  a  stranger  for  more 
than  three  decades. 


12  THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

Asriel  Stroon  grew  homesick. 

It  was  thirty-five  years  since  he  had  left 
his  birthplace;  thirty  years  or  more  since, 
in  the  whirl  of  his  American  successes,  he 
had  lost  all  interest  in  it.  Yet  now,  in  the 
fifty-eighth  year  of  his  life,  he  suddenly 
began  to  yearn  and  pine  for  it. 

Was  it  the  fervor  of  his  religious  awaken 
ing  which  resoldered  the  long-broken  link? 
At  all  events,  numerous  as  were  the  exam 
ples  of  piety  within  the  range  of  his  Ameri 
can  acquaintance,  his  notion  of  genuine  Ju 
daism  was  somehow  inseparably  associated 
with  Pravly.  During  all  the  years  of  his 
life  in  New  York  he  had  retained  a  vague 
but  deep-rooted  feeling  that  American  piety 
was  as  tasteless  an  article  as  American 
cucumbers  and  American  fish  —  the  only 
things  in  which  his  ecstasy  over  the  adopted 
country  admitted  its  hopeless  inferiority  to 
his  native  town* 

III 

On  a  serene  afternoon  in  May,  Asriel  drove 
up  to  Pravly  in  a  peasant's  wagon.  He 
sat  listlessly  gazing  at  the  unbroken  line  of 
wattle-fences  and  running  an  imaginary  stick 


THE   IMPORTED    /tRtf)K(inOOM  13 

along  the  endless  zigzag  of  their  tops.  The 
activity  of  his  senses  seemed  suspended. 

Presently  a  whiff  of  May  aroma  awakened 
his  eye  to  a  many-colored  waving  expanse, 
and  his  ear  to  the  languorous  whisper  of 
birds.  He  recognized  the  plushy  clover 
knobs  in  the  vast  array  of  placid  magnifi 
cence,  and  the  dandelions  and  the  golden 
buttercups,  although  his  poor  mother-tongue 
could  not  afford  a  special  name  for  each 
flower,  and  he  now  addressed  them  collec 
tively  as  tzatzkes  —  a  word  he  had  not  used 
for  thirty -five  years.  Ho  looked  at  the 
tzatzkes,  as  they  were  swaying  thoughtfully 
hither  and  thither,  and  it  somehow  seemed 
to  him  that  it  was  not  the  birds  but  the 
clover  blossoms  which  did  the  chirping.  The 
whole  scene  appealed  to  his  soul  as  a  nod 
ding,  murmuring  congregation  engrossed  in 
the  solemnity  of  worship.  He  felt  as  though 
there  were  no  such  flowers  in  America,  and 
that  he  had  not  seen  any  since  he  had  left 
his  native  place. 

Echoes  of  many,  many  years  ago  called  to 
Asriel  from  amid  the  whispering  host.  His 
soul  burst  into  song.  He  felt  like  shutting 
his  eyes  and  trusting  himself  to  the  caress 
ing  breath  of  the  air,  that  it  might  waft  him 


14  THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

whithersoever  it  chose.  His  senses  were  in 
confusion  :  he  beheld  a  sea  of  fragrance  ;  he 
inhaled  heavenly  music;  he  listened  to  a 
symphony  of  hues. 

"  What  a  treat  to  breathe !  What  a  para 
dise  ! "  he  exclaimed  in  his  heart.  "  The 
cholera  take  it,  how  delicious!  Do  you 
deserve  it,  old  sinner  you?  Ten  plagues 
you  do  1  But  hush  !  the  field  is  praying  "  — 

With  a  wistful  babyish  look  he  became 
absorbed  in  a  gigantic  well-sweep  suspended 
,  from  the  clear  sky,  and  then  in  the  land 
scape  it  overhung.  The  woody  mass  dar 
kling  in  the  distance  was  at  once  racing  about 
and  standing  still.  Fleecy  clouds  crawled 
over  a  hazy  hill-top.  And  yonder  —  behold ! 
a  long,  broad  streak  of  silver  gleaming  on 
the  horizon !  Is  it  a  lake  ?  Asriel's  eyes 
are  riveted  and  memories  stir  in  his  breast. 
He  recalls  not  the  place  itself,  but  ho  can 
remember  his  reminiscences  of  it.  During 
his  first  years  in  America,  at  times  when  he 
would  surrender  himself  to  the  sweet  pangs 
of  home-sickness  and  dwell,  among  other 
things,  on  the  view  that  had  seen  him  off  to 
the  unknown  land,  his  mind  would  conjure 
up  something  like  the  effect  now  before  his 
eyes.  As  a  dream  does  it  come  back  to  him 


THE   IMPORTED    BRIDEGROOM  15 

now.  The  very  shadows  of  thirty-five  years 
ago  are  veiled. 

Asriel  gazes  before  him  in  deep  reverence. 
The  sky  is  letting  itself  down  with  benign 
solemnity,  its  measureless  trough  filled  with 
melody,  the  peasant's  wagon  creaking  an 
accompaniment  to  it  all  —  to  every  speck  of 
color,  jvS  well  as  to  every  sound  of  the  scene. 

At  one  moment  he  felt  as  though  he  had 
strayed  into  the  other  world ;  at  another,  he 
was  seized  with  doubt  as  to  his  own  identity. 
"  Who  are  you  ?  "  he  almost  asked  himself, 
closing  and  reopening  his  hand  experimen 
tally.  "  Who  or  what  is  that  business  which 
you  call  life  ?  Are  you  alive,  Asriel  ?  " 
Whereupon  he  somehow  remembered  Flora's 
photograph,  and,  taking  it  out  of  his  bosom 
pocket,  fell  to  contemplating  it. 

The  wagon  turned  into  a  side-road,  and 
the  Polish  peasant,  leaning  forward,  cursed 
and  whipped  the  animal  into  a  peevish  trot. 
Presently  something  gray  hove  in  sight. 
Far  away,  below,  hazy  blotches  came  creep 
ing  from  behind  the  sky.  The  wagon  rolls 
downhill.  Asriel  is  in  a  flurry.  He  feels 
like  one  on  the  eve  of  a  great  event,  he 
knows  not  exactly  what. 

The  wagon  dashes  on.     Asriel's  heart  is 


16  THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

all  of  a  flutter.  Suddenly  —  O  Lord  of  the 
Universe !  Why,  there  glistens  the  brook 
—  what  do  you  call  it  ?  '  Repka  ? '  "  he  asks 
the  driver. 

"  Repka !  "  the  other  replies,  without  fa 
cing  about. 

"  Repka,  a  disease  into  her  heart !  Repka, 
dear,  may  she  live  long !  Who  could  beat 
Asriel  in  swimming  ?  "  Over  there,  on  the 
other  side,  it  was  where  Asriel's  father  once 
chased  him  for  bathing  during  Nine  Days. 
He  bumped  his  head  against  the  angle  of  a 
rock,  did  the  little  scamp,  and  got  up  with  a 
deep,  streaming  gash  in  his  lower  lip.  The 
mark  is  still  there,  and  Asriel  delights  to  feel 
it  with  his  finger  now.  As  he  does  so  the 
faces  of  some  of  his  playmates  rise  before 
him.  Pshaw!  he  could  whip  every  one  of 
them !  Was  he  not  a  dare-devil  of  a  loafer ! 
But  how  many  of  those  fellow  truants  of  his 
will  he  find  alive  ?  he  asks  himself,  and  the 
question  wrings  his  heart. 

Asriel  strains  his  eyes  at  the  far  distance 
till,  behold  !  smoke  is  spinning  upward 
against  the  blue  sky.  He  can  make  out  the 
chimney-pots.  His  soul  overflows.  Sobs 
choke  his  breath.  "  Say !  "  he  begins,  ad 
dressing  himself  to  the  driver.  But  "  Say  " 


THE    IMPORTED    BRIDEGROOM  17 

is  English.  "  Stoukhai!"  he  shouts,  with 
delight  in  the  Polish  word.  He  utters  the 
names  of  the  surrounding  places,  and  the 
dull  peasant's  nods  of  assent  thrill  him  to 
the  core.  He  turns  this  way  and  that,  and 
in  his  paroxysm  of  impatience  all  but  leaps 
out  of  the  wagon. 

The  rambling  groups  of  houses  define  their 
outlines.  Asriel  recognizes  the  Catholic 
church.  His  heart  bounds  with  joy.  "  I  lush, 
wicked  thing  !  It 's  a  church  of  Gentiles." 
But  the  wicked  thing  surreptitiously  resumes 
its  greeting.  And  over  there,  whitening  at 
some  distance  from  the  other  dwellings  — 
what  is  it?  "The  nobleman's  palace,  as 
sure  as  I  am  a  Jew !  "  He  had  forgotten  all 
about  it,  as  sure  as  he  was  a  Jew !  But  what 
is  the  nobleman's  name?  Is  he  alive?  — 
And  there  is  the  mill  —  the  same  mill  ! 
"  I  '11  swoon  away ! "  he  says  to  himself 
audibly. 

Asriel  regains  some  composure. 

Half  an  hour  later  he  made  his  entry  into 
his  native  town.  Here  he  had  expected  his 
agitation  to  pass  the  bounds  of  his  physical 
strength  ;  but  it  did  not.  At  this  moment 
he  was  solemnly  serene. 

The  town  had  changed  little,  and  he  recog- 


18     THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

nized  it  at  once.  Every  spot  greeted  him, 
and  his  return  of  the  salutation  was  a 
speechless  devotional  pathos.  He  found 
several  things  which  had  faded  out  of  his 
enshrined  picture  of  the  place,  and  the  sight 
of  these  moved  his  soul  even  more  powerfully 
than  those  he  had  looked  forward  to.  Only 
in  one  instance  was  he  taken  aback.  Sure 
enough,  this  is  Synagogue  Lane,  as  full  of 
puddles  as  ever ;  but  what  has  come  over 
him?  He  well  remembers  that  little  alley  in 
the  rear ;  and  yet  it  runs  quite  the  other 
'way.  Length  has  turned  into  width. 

And  here  is  Leizer  Poisner's  inn.  "  But 
how  rickety  it  has  become !  "  Asriel's  heart 
exclaims  with  a  pang,  as  though  at  sight  of 
a  friend  prematurely  aged  and  run  to  seed. 
He  can  almost  smell  the  stable  occupying  the 
entire  length  of  the  little  building,  and  he 
remembers  every  room  —  Hello !  The  same 
market  place,  the  same  church  with  the  bail- 
iff  s  office  by  its  side  !  The  sparse  row  of 
huts  on  the  river-bank,  the  raft  bridge,  the 
tannery, —  everything  was  the  same  as  he 
had  left  it ;  and  yet  it  all  had  an  odd,  mys 
terious,  far-away  air  —  like  things  seen  in  a 
cyclorama.  It  was  Pravly  and  at  the  same 
time  it  was  not ;  or,  rather,  it  certainly  was 


THE    IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  19 

the  same  dear  old  Pravly,  but  added  to  it 
was  something  else,  through  which  it  now 
gazed  at  Asriel.  Thirty-five  years  lay 
wrapped  about  the  town. 

Still,  Stroon  feels  like  Asrielke  Thirteen 
Hairs,  as  his  nickname  had  been  here.  Then 
he  relapses  into  the  Mott  Street  landlord, 
and  for  a  moment  he  is  an  utter  stranger 
in  his  birthplace.  Why,  he  could  buy  it  all 
up  now  I  He  could  discount  all  the  rich 
men  in  town  put  together  ;  and  yet  there 
was  a  time  when  he  was  of  the  meanest  here 
about.  An  overpowering  sense  of  triumph 
surged  into  his  breast.  Hey,  there  !  Where 
are  your  bigbugs  —  Zorach  Latozky,  Keb 
Lippe,  Reb  Nochum  ?  Are  they  alive  ? 
Thirty-five  years  ago  Asrielke  considered  it 
an  honor  to  shake  their  palm  branch  on  the 
Feast  of  Tabernacles,  while  now  —  out  with 
your  purses,  you  proud  magnates,  measure 
fortunes  with  Asrielke  the  heckler,  if  you 
dare!  His  heart  swells  with  exultation. 
And  yet  —  the  black  year  take  it  I — it 
yearns  and  aches,  does  Asriel's  heart.  He 
looks  at  Pravly,  and  his  soul  is  pining  for 
Pravly  —  for  the  one  of  thirty-five  years  ago, 
of  which  this  is  only  a  reflection,  —  for  the 
one  in  which  he  was  known  as  a  crack- 


20  THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

brained  rowdy  of  a  mechanic,  a  poor  devil 
living  on  oatmeal  and  herring. 

With  the  townspeople  of  his  time  Asriel's 
experience  was  somewhat  different  from 
what  he  felt  in  the  case  of  inanimate  Pravly. 
As  he  confronted  them  some  faces  lighted 
up  with  their  identity  at  once ;  and  there 
were  even  some  younger  people  in  whom  he 
instantly  recognized  the  transcribed  images 
of  their  deceased  parents.  But  many  a  coun 
tenance  was  slow  to  catch  the  reflection  of 
the  past  which  shone  out  of  his  eyes  ;  and 
in  a  few  instances  it  was  not  until  the  name 
was  revealed  to  Asriel  that  the  retrospec 
tive  likeness  would  begin  to  struggle  through 
the  unfamiliar  features  before  him. 

44  Shmulke !  "  he  shrieked,  the  moment  he 
caught  sight  of  an  old  crony,  as  though  they 
had  been  parted  for  no  more  than  a  month. 
Shmulke  is  not  the  blooming,  sprightly  young 
fellow  of  yore.  He  has  a  white  beard  and 
looks  somewhat  decrepit.  Asriel,  however, 
feels  as  if  the  beard  were  only  glued  to  the 
smooth  face  he  had  known.  But  how  As 
riel's  heart  does  shrink  in  his  bosom  !  The 
fever  of  activity  in  which  he  -had  passed 
the  thirty-five  years  had  kept  him  deaf  to 
the  departing  footsteps  of  Time.  Not  until 


THE    IMPORTED    BRIDEGROOM  21 

recently  had  he  realized  that  the  words  "old 
man "  applied  to  him ;  but  even  then  the 
fact  never  came  home  to  him  with  such  con 
vincing,  with  such  terrible  force,  as  it  did 
now  that  he  stood  face  to  face  with  Shmulke. 
Slim  u Ike  was  his  mirror. 

"  Shmulke,  Angel  of  Death,  an  inflamma 
tion  into  your  bones !  "  he  shouted,  as  he 
suddenly  remembered  his  playmate's  by 
name  and  fell  on  his  shoulder. 

Shmulke  feels  awkward.  He  is  ashamed 
of  the  long-forgotten  nickname,  and  is  strug 
gling  to  free  himself  from  the  unwelcome 
embrace ;  but  Asriel  is  much  the  stronger 
of  the  two,  and  he  continues  to  squeeze  him 
and  pat  him,  grunting  and  puffing  for  emo 
tion  as  he  does  so. 

Aunt  Sarah-Rachel,  whom  Asriel  had  left 
an  elderly  but  exceedingly  active  and  clever 
tradeswoman,  he  found  a  bag  of  bones  and 
in  her  dotage. 

"  Don't  you  know  me,  auntie  ?  "  he  im 
plored  her.  She  made  no  reply,  and  went 
on  munching  her  lips.  "  Can  it  be  that  you 
don't  know  Asrielke,  who  used  to  steal  rai 
sins  from  your  grocery  ?  " 

"  She  does  not  understand  anything  I " 
Asriel  whispered,  in  consternation. 


22  THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 


IV 

Asriel's  first  Sabbath  in  the  native  place 
he  was  revisiting  was  destined  to  be  a 
memorable  day  in  the  annals  of  that  peace 
ful  little  town. 

At  the  synagogue,  during  the  morning 
service,  he  was  not  the  only  object  of  in 
terest.  So  far  as  the  furtive  glances  that 
came  through  the  peepholes  of  the  wo 
men's  compartment  were  concerned,  a  much 
'younger  guest,  from  a  hamlet  near  by,  had 
even  greater  magnetism  than  he.  Reb  Lippe, 
for  forty  years  the  "  finest  householder " 
of  the  community,  expected  to  marry  his 
youngest  daughter  to  an  llloui  (a  prodigy 
of  Talmudic  lore),  and  he  now  came  to 
flaunt  him,  and  the  five-thousand  rouble 
dowry  he  represented,  before  the  congrega 
tion. 

Only  nineteen  and  a  poor  orphan,  the 
fame  of  the  prospective  bridegroom,  as  a 
marvel  of  acumen  and  memory,  reached  far 
and  wide.  Few  of  the  subtlest  rabbinical 
minds  in  the  district  were  accounted  his 
match  in  debate,  and  he  was  said  to  have 
some  two  thousand  Talmudical  folios  liter- 


THE    IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  23 

ally  at  his  finger's  ends.  This  means  that 
if  you  had  placed  the  tip  of  your  finger  on 
some  word  of  a  volume,  he  could  have  told 
you  the  word  which  came  under  your  pressure 
on  any  other  page  you  might  name.  As  we 
shall  have  to  cultivate  the  young  man's  ac 
quaintance,  let  it  be  added  that  he  was  quite 
boyish  of  figure,  and  that  had  it  not  been 
for  an  excess  of  smiling  frankness,  his  pale, 
blue-eyed  face  would  have  formed  the  near 
est  Semitic  approach  to  the  current  por 
traits  of  Lord  Byron.  His  admirers  de 
plored  his  lack  of  staidness.  While  visiting 
at  Pravly,  in  a  manner,  as  the  guest  of  the 
town,  he  was  detected  giving  snuff  to  a  pig, 
and  then  participating  with  much  younger 
boys  in  a  race  over  the  bridge. 

His  betrothment  to  Reb  Lippe's  daugh 
ter  was  still  the  subject  of  negotiation,  and 
there  were  said  to  be  serious  obstacles  in 
the  way.  The  prodigy's  relatives  were 
pleased  with  Reb  Lippe's  pedigree  and  so 
cial  rank,  but  thought  that  the  boy  could 
marry  into  a  wealthier  family  and  get  a 
prettier  girl  into  the  bargain.  Neverthe 
less  Reb  Lippe's  manner  at  the  synagogue 
was  as  though  the  engagement  were  an  ac 
complished  fact,  and  he  kept  the  young  man 


24  THE  IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

by  his  side,  his  own  seat  being  next  the  rab 
bi's,  which  was  by  the  Holy  Ark. 

Asriel,  as  a  newcomer,  and  out  of  respect 
for  his  fabulous  wealth,  was  also  accorded  a 
seat  of  honor  on  the  other  side  of  the  Ark. 
Before  he  had  expatriated  himself  his  place 
used  to  be  near  the  door  —  a  circumstance 
which  was  fresh  in  the  mind  of  Reb  Lippe, 
who  chafed  to  see  him  divert  attention  from 
the  prodigy  and  his  purchaser.  Now  Reb 
Lippe  was  a  proud  old  gentleman,  too  jeal 
ous  of  the  memory  of  his  rabbinical  ancestry 
and  of  his  own  time-honored  dignity  to  give 
way  to  a  mere  boor  of  a  heckler,  no  matter 
how  much  American  gold  he  had  to  atone 
for  his  antecedents.  Accordingly,  when  his 
fellow  trustee  suggested  that  the  American 
ought  to  be  summoned  to  the  reading  of  the 
Third  Section  in  the  week's  portion  of  the 
Pentateuch,  —  the  highest  honor  connected 
with  the  reading  of  the  Law,  and  one  for 
which  the  visiting  nabob  was  sure  to  pay 
a  liberal  donation,  —  the  venerable  counte 
nance  turned  crimson. 

"  Let  the  sections  be  auctioned  off !  "  he 
jerked  out. 

The  proceeding  was  seldom  practiced  on 
an  ordinary  Sabbath ;  but  Reb  Lippe's  will 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  25 

was  law,  as  peremptory  and  irresistible  as 
the  Law  of  Moses,  with  which  it  was  now 
concerned.  And  so  the  worshipers  pre 
sently  found  themselves  converted  into  so 
many  eye-witnesses  of  a  battle  of  purses. 

"Five  gildens  for  the  Third  !  "  called  out 
the  weazen -faced  little  sexton  from  the 
reading-platform,  in  the  traditional  sing 
song  that  became  his  draggling  black  beard 
so  well.  As  a  bona-fide  business  transaction 
is  not  allowed  on  the  holy  day,  even  though 
the  house  of  God  be  the  sole  gainer  by  it, 
the  sexton's  figures  were  fictitious  —  in  so 
far,  at  least,  as  they  were  understood  to 
represent  double  the  actual  amount  to  be 
paid  to  the  synagogue  by  the  purchaser  of 
the  good  deed. 

"  Six  gildens  for  the  Third !  "  he  went  on 
in  interpretation  of  a  frowning  nod  from 
Reb  Lippe. 

A  contemptuous  toss  of  Asriel's  head 
threw  another  gilden  on  top  of  the  sum. 
Two  other  members  signaled  to  the  auc 
tioneer,  and,  warming  up  to  his  task,  he 
sang  out  with  gusto,  "  Eight  gildens  for  the 
Third!" 

Then  came  in  rapid  succession :  "  Nine 
gildens  for  the  Third !  Ten  gildens  for  the 


26  THE   IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

Third!     Eleven  gildens,  twelve,  thirteen, 
fourteen  gildens  for  the  Third !  " 

The  other  bidders,  one  by  one,  dropped 
out  of  the  race,  and  when  the  sum  reached 
sixty  gildens  the  field  was  left  to  Eeb  Lippe 
and  Asriel. 

The  congregation  was  spellbound.  Some 
with  gaping  mouths,  others  with  absorbed 
simpers  on  their  faces,  but  all  with  sports 
man-like  fire  in  their  eyes,  the  worshipers 
craned  their  necks  in  the  direction  of  the 
two  contestants  alternately. 

The  prodigy  had  edged  away  from  his 
seat  to  a  coign  of  vantage.  He  was  repeat 
edly  called  back  by  winks  from  his  uncle, 
but  was  too  deeply  interested  in  the  progress 
of  the  auction  to  heed  them. 

"  Seventy  gildens  for  the  Third !  Seven 
ty-one,  seventy-two,  three,  four,  five,  seventy- 
six,  seventy-seven,  eight,  nine,  eighty  gildens 
for  the  Third  !  " 

The  skirmish  waxed  so  hot,  shots  flew  so 
thick  and  so  fast,  that  the  perspiring  sexton, 
and  with  him  some  of  the  spectators,  was 
swiveling  his  head  from  right  to  left  and 
from  left  to  right  with  the  swift  regularity 
of  gymnastic  exercise. 

It  must  be  owned   that  so  far  as  mute 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  27 

partisanship  was  concerned,  Asriel  had  the 
advantage  of  his  adversary,  for  even  some 
of  Reb  Lippe's  stanchest  friends  and  ad 
mirers  had  a  lurking  relish  for  seeing  it 
brought  home  to  their  leading  citizen  that 
there  were  wealthier  people  than  he  in  the 
world. 

The  women,  too,  shared  in  the  excitement 
of  the  morning.  Their  windows  were  glis 
tening  with  eyes,  and  the  reports  of  their 
lucky  occupants  to  the  anxious  knots  in  the 
rear  evoked  hubbubs  of  conflicting  interjec 
tions  which  came  near  involving  the  ma 
tronly  assemblage  in  civil  war. 

The  Third  Section  brought  some  twenty- 
eight  rubles,  net.  Asriel  was  certain  that 
the  last  bid  had  been  made  by  him,  and  that 
the  honor  and  the  good  deed  were  accord 
ingly  his.  When  it  came  to  the  reading, 
however,  and  the  Third  Section  was  reached, 
the  reader  called  out  Reb  Lippe's  name. 

Asriel  was  stupefied. 

•'Hold  on!  That  won't  do  I"  he  thun 
dered,  suddenly  feeling  himself  an  American 
citizen.  "  I  have  bought  it  and  I  mean  to 
have  it."  His  face  was  fire ;  his  eyes  looked 
havoc. 

A  wave  of   deprecation  swept  over  the 


28  THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

room.  Dozens  of  reading-desks  were  slapped 
for  order.  Reb  Lippe  strode  up  to  the  plat 
form,  pompous,  devout,  resplendent  in  the 
gold  lace  of  his  praying-shawl  and  the  flow 
ing  silver  of  his  beard,  as  though  the  out 
burst  of  indignation  against  Asriel  were 
only  an  ovation  to  himself.  He  had  the 
cunning  of  a  fox,  the  vanity  of  a  peacock, 
and  the  sentimentality  of  a  woman  during 
the  Ten  Days  of  Penance.  There  were 
many  skeptics  as  to  the  fairness  of  the  trans 
action,  but  these  were  too  deeply  impressed 
by  the  grandeur  of  his  triumphal  march  to 
whisper  an  opinion.  The  prodigy  alone 
spoke  his  mind. 

"  Why,  I  do  think  the  other  man  was  the 
last  to  nod  —  may  I  be  ill  if  he  was  not," 
the  enfant  terrible  said  quite  audibly,  and 
was  hushed  by  his  uncle. 

"Is  he  really  going  to  get  it?"  Asriel 
resumed,  drowning  all  opposition  with  his 
voice.  "  Milk  a  billy-goat !  You  can't  play 
that  trick  on  me !  Mine  was  the  last  bid. 
Twenty-eight  scurvy  rubles !  Pshaw !  I 
am  willing  to  pay  a  hundred,  two  hundred, 
five  hundred.  I  can  buy  up  all  Pravly,  Reb 
Lippe,  his  gold  lace  and  all,  and  sell  him 
at  a  loss,  too ! "  He  made  a  dash  at  the 


TIIK    IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM          29 

reading-platform,  as  if  to  take  the  Third 
Section  by  force,  but  tho  bodlam  which  his 
sully  called  forth  checked  him, 

"  IH  this  a  market  -  place  ?  "  cried  the 
second  trustee,  with  conscious  indignation. 

"  Shut  tho  mouth  of  that  boor!  "  screamed 
a  member,  in  sincere  disgust, 

•'  Put  him  out ! "  yelled  another,  with 
relish  in  the  scene. 

"If  he  can't  behave  in  a  holy  place  lot 
him  go  back  to  his  America  I"  exclaimed  a 
third,  merely  to  bo  in  tho  running.  But  hig 
words  had  tho  best  effect :  they  reminded 
Asriel  that  he  was  a  stranger  and  that  the 
noise  might  attract  the  police. 

At  tho  same  moment  ho  saw  tho  peaked 
facn  of  tho  aged  rabbi  by  Inn  side.  Taking 
him  by  the  arm,  the  old  man  begged  him 
not  to  disturb  tho  Sabbath. 

Whether  the  mistake  was  on  Asriel's  side 
or  on  tho  sexton's,  or  whether  there  waa  any 
foul  play  in  tho  matter,  is  not  known ;  but 
Asriol  relented  and  settled  down  at  his  desk 
to  follow  the  remainder  of  the  reading  in 
his  Peutateuch,  although  tho  storm  of  re 
venge  which  was  raging  in  his  breast  soon 
carried  off  his  attention,  and  he  lost  track. 

The  easy  success  of  his  first  exhortation 


30  THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

brought  the  rabbi  to  Asriel's    side    once 
again. 

"  I  knew  your  father,  —  peace  upon  him  ! 
He  was  a  righteous  Jew,"  he  addressed  him 
in  a  voice  trembling  and  funereal  with  old 
age.  "  Obey  me,  my  son,  ascend  the  plat 
form,  and  offer  the  congregation  a  public 
apology.  The  Holy  One  —  blessed  be  He  — 
will  help  you.*' 

The  rabbi's  appeal  moved  Asriel  to  tears, 
and  tingling  with  devout  humility  he  was 
presently  on  the  platform,  speaking  in  his 
•blunt,  gruff  way. 

"  Do  not  take  it  hard,  my  rabbis !  I 
meant  no  offense  to  any  one,  though  there 
was  a  trick  —  as  big  as  a  fat  bull.  Still,  I 
donate  two  hundred  rubles,  and  let  the 
cantor  recite  '  God  full  of  Mercy  '  for  the 
souls  of  my  father  and  mother,  —  peace  upon 
them." 

It  was  quite  a  novel  way  of  announcing 
one's  contribution,  and  the  manner  of  his 
apology,  too,  had  at  once  an  amusing  and  a 
scandalizing  effect  upon  the  worshipers, 
but  the  sum  took  their  breath  away  and 
silenced  all  hostile  sentiment. 

The  reading  over,  and  the  scrolls  re 
stored,  amid  a  tumultuous  acclaim,  to  the 


THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM     31 

Holy  Ark,  the  cantor  resumed  his  place  at 
the  Omud,  chanting  a  hurried  Half-Kad- 
dish.  "  And  say  ye  Amen  !  "  he  concluded 
abruptly,  as  if  startled,  together  with  his 
listeners,  into  sudden  silence. 

Nodding  or  shaking  their  heads,  or  sway 
ing  their  forms  to  and  fro,  some,  perhaps 
mechanically,  others  with  composed  rever 
ence,  still  others  in  a  convulsion  of  religious 
fervor,  the  two  or  three  hundred  men  were 
joined  in  whispering  chorus,  offering  the 
solemn  prayer  of  J\Iussa/ff.  Here  and  there 
a  sigh  made  itself  heard  amid  the  monotony 
of  speechless,  gesticulating  ardor ;  a  pair  of 
fingers  snapped  in  an  outburst  of  ecstasy,  a 
sob  broke  from  some  corner,  or  a  lugubrious 
murmur  from  the  women's  room.  The,  pro 
digy,  his  eyes  shut,  and  his  countenance 
stern  with  unfeigned  rapture,  was  violently 
working  his  lips  as  if  to  make  up  for  the 
sounds  of  the  words  which  they  dared  not 
utter.  Asriel  was  shaking  and  tossing  about. 
His  face  was  distorted  with  the  piteous, 
reproachful  mien  of  a  neglected  child  about 
to  burst  into  tears,  his  twin  imperials  dancing 
plaintively  to  his  whispered  intonations.  He 
knew  not  what  his  lips  said,  but  he  did 
know  that  his  soul  was  pouring  itself  forth 


32  THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

before  Heaven,  and  that  his  heart  might 
break  unless  he  gave  way  to  his  restrained 
sobs. 

At  last  the  silent  devotions  were  at  an 
end.  One  after  another  the  worshipers 
retreated,  each  three  paces  from  his  post. 
Only  three  men  were  still  absorbed  in  the 
sanctity  of  the  great  prayer :  the  rabbi,  for 
whom  the  cantor  was  respectfully  waiting 
with  the  next  chant,  Reb  Lippe,  who  would 
not  "retreat"  sooner  than  the  rabbi,  and 
Asriel,  who,  in  his  frenzy  of  zeal,  was  re 
peating  the  same  benediction  for  the  fifth 
time. 

When  Asriel  issued  forth  from  the  syna 
gogue  he  found  Pravly  completely  changed. 
It  was  as  if,  while  he  was  praying  and  bat 
tling,  the  little  town  had  undergone  a  trivial 
izing  process.  All  the  poetry  of  thirty-five 
years'  separation  had  fled  from  it,  leaving  a 
heap  of  beggarly  squalor.  He  felt  as  though 
he  had  never  been  away  from  the  place,  and 
were  tired  to  death  of  it,  and  at  the  same 
time  his  heart  was  contracted  with  homesick 
ness  for  America.  The  only  interest  the 
town  now  had  for  him  was  that  of  a  medium 
to  be  filled  with  the  rays  of  his  financial 


THE    IMPORTED    BRIDEGROOM  33 

triumph.  "  I  '11  show  them  who  they  are 
and  who  Asriel  is,"  he  comforted  himself. 

The  afternoon  service  was  preceded  by 
a  sermon.  The  "  town  preacher  "  took  his 
text,  as  usual,  from  the  passage  in  the  ^  Five 
Books  "  which  had  been  read  in  the  morn 
ing.  But  he  contrived  to  make  it  the  basis 
of  an  allusion  to  the  all-absorbing  topic  of 
gossip.  Citing  the  Talmud  and  the  com 
mentaries  with  ostentatious  profuseness,  ho 
laid  particular  stress  on  the  good  deed  of 
procuring  a  scholar  of  sacred  lore  for  one's 
son-in-law. 

"  It  is  a  well-known  saying  in  tractate 
Psohim"  he  said,  "  that '  one  should  be  ready 
to  sell  his  all  in  order  to  marry  his  daughter 
to  a  scholar.'  On  the  other  hand,  *  to  give 
your  daughter  in  marriage  to  a  boor  is  like 
giving  her  to  a  lion/  Again,  in  tractate 
Berochath  we  learn  that  'to  give  shelter  to 
a  scholar  bent  upon  sacred  studies,  and  to 
sustain  him  from  your  estates,  is  like  offer 
ing  sacrifices  to  God;'  and  'to  give  wine 
to  such  a  student  is,'  according  to  a  passage 
in  tractate  Sota,  '  tantamount  to  pouring  it 
out  on  an  altar.'  " 

Glances  converged  on  Reb  Lippe  and  the 
prodigy  by  his  side. 


34  THE   IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

Proceeding  with  his  argument,  the  learned 
preacher,  by  an  ingenious  chain  of  quota 
tions  and  arithmetical  operations  upon  the 
numerical  value  of  letters,  arrived  at  the 
inference  that  compliance  with  the  above 
teachings  was  one  of  the  necessary  condi 
tions  of  securing  a  place  in  the  Garden  of 
Eden. 

All  of  which  filled  Asriel's  heart  with  a 
new  dread  of  the  world  to  come  and  with  a 
rankling  grudge  against  Reb  Lippe.  He 
came  away  from  the  synagogue  utterly 
crushed,  and  when  he  reached  his  inn  the 
prodigy  was  the  prevailing  subject  of  his 
chat  with  the  landlord. 


In  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  at  the 
conclusion  of  the  Sabbath,  the  auction  of 
another  good  deed  took  place,  and  once  more 
the  purses  of  Reb  Lippe  and  Asriel  clashed 
in  desperate  combat. 

This  time  the  good  deed  assumed  the  form 
of  a  prodigy  of  Talmudic  learning  in  the 
character  of  a  prospective  son-in-law. 

The  room  (at  the  residence  of  one  of  the 
young  man's  uncles)  was  full  of  bearded 


THE    IMPORTED    BRIDEGROOM  35 

Jews,  tobacco  smoke,  and  noise.  There  were 
Shaya,  the  prodigy  himself,  his  two  uncles, 
Reb  Lippe,  his  eldest  son,  and  two  of  his 
lieutenants,  Asriel,  his  landlord,  and  a  match 
maker.  A  live  broad-shouldered  samovar, 
its  air-holes  like  so  many  glowing  eyes,  stood 
in  the  centre  of  the  table.  Near  it  lay  Flora's 
photograph,  representing  her  in  all  the 
splendor  of  Grand  Street  millinery. 

The  youthful  hero  of  the  day  eyed  the 
portrait  with  undisguised,  open-mouthed  cu 
riosity,  till,  looked  out  of  countenance  by  the 
young  lady's  doleful,  penetrating  eyes,  he 
turned  from  it,  but  went  on  viewing  it  with 
furtive  interest. 

His  own  formula  of  a  bride  was  a  hatless 
image.  The  notion,  therefore,  of  this  prin 
cess  becoming  his  wife  both  awed  him  and 
staggered  his  sense  of  decorum.  Then  the 
smiling  melancholy  of  the  Semitic  face  upset 
his  image  of  himself  in  his  mind  and  set  it 
afloat  in  a  haze  of  phantasy.  "  I  say  you 
need  not  look  at  me  like  that,"  he  seemed  to 
say  to  the  picture.  "  Pshaw !  you  are  a  Jewish 
girl  after  all,  and  I  am  not  afraid  of  you  a 
bit.  But  what  makes  you  so  sad  ?  Can  I 
do  anything  for  you  ?  Why  don't  you  an 
swer  ?  Do  take  off  that  hat,  will  you  ?  " 


36  THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

Reb  Lippe's  daughter  did  not  wear  a  hat, 
but  she  was  not  to  his  liking,  and  he  now 
became  aware  of  it.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
word  "  America "  had  a  fascinating  ring, 
and  the  picture  it  conjured  was  a  blend  of 
Talmudic  and  modern  glory. 

Reb  Lippe's  venerable  beard  was  rippled 
with  a  nervous  smile. 

"  Yes,  I  am  only  a  boor !  "  roared  Asriel, 
with  a  touch  of  Bounderby  ostentation. 
"  But  you  know  it  is  not  myself  I  want  the 
boy  to  marry.  Twenty  thousand  rubles, 
spot  cash,  then,  and  when  the  old  boor  takes 
himself  off,  Shaya  will  inherit  ten  times  as 
much.  She  is  my  only  child,  and  when  I 
die  —  may  I  be  choked  if  I  take  any  of  my 
houses  into  the  grave.  Worms  don't  eat 
houses,  you  know." 

The  quality  of  his  unhackneyed  phrase 
vexed  the  sedate  old  talmudists,  and  one  of 
them  remarked,  as  he  pointed  a  sarcastic 
finger  at  the  photograph  :  — 

"  Your  girl  looks  like  the  daughter  of  some 
titled  Gentile.  Shaya  is  a  Jewish  boy." 

"You  don't  like  my  girl,  don't  you?" 
Asriel  darted  back.  "  And  why,  pray  ?  Is 
it  because  she  is  not  a  lump  of  ugliness  and 
wears  a  hat  ?  The  grand  rabbi  of  Wilna  is 


THE    IMPORTED    BRIDEGROOM  37 

as  pious  as  any  of  you,  is  n't  he  ?  Well, 
when  I  was  there,  on  my  way  here,  I  saw  his 
daughter,  and  she  also  wore  a  hat  and  was 
also  pretty.  Twenty  thousand  rubles !  " 

By  this  time  the  prodigy  was  so  absorbed 
in  the  proceedings  that  he  forgot  the  Ameri 
can  photograph,  as  well  as  the  bearing  which 
the  auction  in  progress  had  upon  himself. 
Leaning  over  the  table  as  far  as  the  samovar 
would  allow,  and  propping  up  his  face  with 
both  arms,  he  watched  the  scene  with  thrill 
ing  but  absolutely  disinterested  relish. 

After  a  great  deal  of  whispering  and  sup 
pressed  excitement  in  the  camp  of  Asriel's 
foe,  Reb  Lippe's  son  announced  :  — 

"Ten  thousand  rubles  and  five  years' 
board."  This,  added  to  Reb  Lippe's  advan 
tages  over  his  opponent  by  virtue  of  his 
birth,  social  station,  and  learning,  as  well  as 
of  his  residing  in  Russia,  was  supposed  to 
exceed  the  figure  named  by  Asriel.  In  point 
of  fact,  everybody  in  the  room  knew  that  the 
old  talmudist's  bid  was  much  beyond  his 
depth  ;  but  the  assemblage  had  no  time  to 
be  surprised  by  his  sum,  for  no  sooner  had 
it  been  uttered  than  Asriel  yelled  out,  with 
impatient  sarcasm  :  — 

"Thirty   thousand   rubles,   and   life-long 


38  THE  IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

board,  and  lodging,  and  bath  money,  and 
stocking  darning,  and  cigarettes,  and  matches, 
and  mustard,  and  soap  —  and  what  else  ?  " 

The  prodigy  burst  into  a  chuckle,  and  was 
forthwith  pulled  down  to  his  chair.  He  took 
a  liking  to  the  rough-and-ready  straightfor 
wardness  of  the  American. 

There  was  a  pause.  Shaya  and  his  uncles 
were  obviously  leaning  toward  the  "  boor." 
Asriel  was  clearly  the  master  of  the  situa 
tion. 

At  last  Keb  Lippe  and  his  suite  rose  from 
{heir  seats. 

"  You  can  keep  the  bargain !  "  he  said  to 
Asriel,  with  a  sardonic  smile. 

"  And  be  choked  with  it !  "  added  his  son. 

"  What  is  your  hurry,  Reb  Lippe  ?  "  said 
one  of  the  uncles,  rushing  to  the  old  man's 
side  with  obsequious  solicitude.  "  Why,  the 
thing  is  not  settled  yet.  We  don't  know 
whether  "  — 

"  You  don't,  but  I  do.  I  won't  take  that 
boy  if  he  brings  twenty  thousand  roubles  to 
his  marriage  portion.  Good-night !  " 

"Good-night  and  good-year!"  Asriel  re 
turned.  "  Why  does  the  cat  hate  the  cream  ? 
Because  it  is  locked  up." 

An  hour  afterward  the  remainder  of  the 


THE    IMPORTED    BRIDEGROOM  39 

gathering  were  touching  glasses  and  inter 
changing  mazol-tovs  (congratulations)  upon 
the  engagement  of  Flora  Stroon  to  Shaya 
Golub. 

"And  now  receive  my  mazol-tov!"  said 
Asriel,  pouncing  upon  the  prodigy  and  nearly 
crushing  him  in  his  mighty  embrace.  "  Ma- 
zol-tov  to  you,  Flora's  bridegroom  !  Mazol- 
tov  to  you,  Flora's  predestinated  one  !  My 
child's  dear  little  bridegroom  !  "  he  went  on, 
hiding  his  face  on  the  young  man's  shoulder. 
44  I  ani  only  a  boor,  but  you  shall  be  my  son- 
in-law.  I  '11  dine  you  and  wine  you,  as  the 
preacher  commanded,  pearls  will  I  strew  on 
your  righteous  path,  a  crown  will  I  place  on 
your  head  —  I  am  only  a  boor  !  " 

Sobs  rang  in  the  old  man's  voice.  The 
bystanders  looked  on  in  smiling,  pathetic 
silence. 

44  A  boor,  but  an  honest  man,"  some  one 
whispered  to  the  uncles. 

"A  heart  of  gold!  "  put  in  the  innkeeper. 

44  And  what  will  Flora  say  ?  "  something 
whispered  to  Asriel,  from  a  corner  of  his  ' 
overflowing  heart.  uDo  you  mean  to  tell 
me  that  the  American  young  lady  will  marry 
this  old-fashioned,  pious  fellow  ?  "  "  Hold 
your  tongue,  fool  you  1 "  Asriel  snarled 


40  THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

inwardly.  "  She  will  have  to  marry  him, 
and  that  settles  it,  and  don't  you  disturb  my 
joy.  It 's  for  her  good  as  well  as  for  mine." 

With  a  sudden  movement  he  disengaged 
his  arms,  and,  taking  off  his  enormous  gold 
watch  and  chain,  he  put  it  on  Shaya,  say 
ing:— 

"  Wear  it  in  good  health,  my  child.  This 
is  your  first  present  from  your  sweetheart. 
But  wait  till  we  come  to  America !  " 

The  next  morning  Asriel  visited  the  cem 
etery,  and  was  overawed  by  its  size.  While 
living  Pravly  had  increased  by  scarcely  a 
dozen  houses,  the  number  of  dwellings  in 
silent  Pravly  had  nearly  doubled. 

The  headstones,  mostly  of  humble  size 
and  weatherworn,  were  a  solemn  minority  in 
a  forest  of  plain  wooden  monuments,  from 
which  hung,  for  identification,  all  sorts  of 
unceremonious  tokens,  such  as  old  tin  cans, 
bottomless  pots,  cast-off  hats,  shoes,  and 
what  not.  But  all  this,  far  from  marring 
the  impressiveness  of  the  place,  accentuated 
and  heightened  the  inarticulate  tragedy  of 
its  aspect.  The  discarded  utensils  or  wear 
ing  apparel  seemed  to  be  brooding  upon  the 
days  of  their  own  prime,  when  they  had 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  41 

participated  in  the  activities  of  the  living 
town  yonder.  They  had  an  effect  of  myste 
rious  muteness,  as  of  erstwhile  animated 
beings,  —  comrades  of  the  inmates  of  the 
overgrown  little  mounds  underneath,  come 
to  join  them  in  the  eternal  rest  of  the  city 
of  death. 

"  Father !  Father !  "  Asriel  began,  in  a 
loud  synagogue  intonation,  as  he  prostrated 
himself  upon  an  old  grave,  immediately  after 
the  cantor  had  concluded  his  prayer  and 
withdrawn  from  his  side.  "  It  is  I,  Asriel, 
your  son  —  do  you  remember?  I  have  come 
all  the  way  from  America  to  ask  you  to 
pray  for  me  and  my  child.  She  is  a  good 
girl,  father,  and  I  am  trying  to  lead  her  on 
the  path  of  righteousness.  She  is  about  to 
marry  the  greatest  scholar  of  God's  Law 
hereabouts.  Do  pray  that  the  boy  may  find 
favor  in  her  eyes,  father !  You  know,  father 
dear,  that  I  am  only  a  boor,  and  woe  is  me ! 
I  am  stuffed  full  of  sins.  But  now  I  am 
trying  to  make  up  and  to  be  a  good  Jew. 
Will  you  pray  the  Uppermost  to  accept  my 
penance?"  he  besought,  with  growing  pathos 
in  his  voice.  "  You  are  near  Him,  father, 
so  do  take  pity  upon  your  son  and  see  to  it 
that  his  sins  are  forgiven.  Will  you  pray 


42  THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

for  me  ?  Will  you  ?  But,  anyhow,  I  care 
more  for  Flora  —  Bloome,  her  Yiddish  name 
is.  What  am  I  ?  A  rusty  lump  of  nothing. 
But  Flora  —  she  is  a  flower.  Do  stand 
forth  before  the  High  Tribunal  and  pray 
that  no  ill  wind  blow  her  away  from  me, 
that  no  evil  eye  injure  my  treasure.  She 
lost  her  mother  when  she  was  a  baby,  poor 
child,  and  she  is  the  only  consolation  I  have 
in  the  world.  But  you  are  her  grandfather 
—  do  pray  for  her !  " 

Asriel's  face  shone,  his  heavy  voice  rang 
in  a  dismal,  rapturous,  devotional  sing-song. 
His  eyes  were  dry,  but  his  soul  was  full  of 
tears  and  poetry,  and  he  poured  it  forth  in 
passionate,  heart-breaking  cadences. 

"  What  is  the  difference  between  this 
grass  blade  and  myself  ?  "  he  asked,  a  little 
after.  "  Why  should  you  give  yourself  airs, 
Asriel  ?  Don't  kick,  be  good,  be  pious,  carry 
God  in  your  heart,  and  make  no  fuss  !  Be 
as  quiet  as  this  grass,  for  hark !  the  hearse 
is  coming  after  you,  the  contribution  boxes 
are  jingling,  the  Angel  of  Death  stands 
ready  with  his  knife  —  Oh,  do  pray  for 
your  son,  father  !  "  he  shrieked,  in  terror. 

He  paused.  A  bee,  droning  near  by, 
seemed  to  be  praying  like  himself,  and  its 
company  stirred  Asriel's  heart. 


THE    IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  43 

"  Oh,  father !  I  have  not  seen  you  for 
thirty-five  years.  Thirty-five  years  !  "  he 
repeated  in  deliberate  tones  and  listening  to 
his  own  voice. 

"  We  are  the  thirty-five ! "  some  distant 
tombstones  responded,  and  Asriel  could  not 
help  pausing  to  look  about,  and  then  he 
again  repeated,  "  Thirty-five  years  !  Can  I 
never  see  you  again,  father?  Can't  I  see 
your  dear  face  and  talk  to  you,  as  of  old, 
and  throw  myself  into  fire  or  water  for  you  ? 
Can't  I  ?  Can't  I  ?  Do  you  remember  how 
you  used  to  keep  me  on  your  knees  or  say 
prayers  with  me  at  the  synagogue,  and  box 
my  ears  so  that  the  black  year  took  me  when 
you  caught  me  skipping  in  the  prayer-book  ? 
Has  it  all  flown  away  ?  Has  it  really  ?  " 

He  paused  as  though  for  an  answer,  and 
then  resumed,  with  a  bitter,  malicious  laugh 
at  his  own  expense  :  "  Your  father  is  silent, 
Asriel  I  Not  a  word,  even  if  you  tear  your 
self  to  pieces.  All  is  gone,  Asrielke !  All, 
all,  all  is  lost  forever !  " 

His  harsh  voice  collapsed.  His  speech 
died  away  in  a  convulsion  of  subdued  sob 
bing.  His  soul  went  on  beseeching  his 
father  to  admit  him  to  the  restful  sanctity 
of  his  company. 


44  THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

When  Asriel  rose  to  his  feet  and  his  eye 
fell  upon  a  tombstone  precisely  like  his 
father's,  he  frowned  upon  it,  with  a  sense  of 
jealousy.  On  his  way  to  his  mother's  grave, 
in  the  older  part  of  the  cemetery,  he  ever 
and  anon  turned  to  look  back.  His  father's 
tombstone  was  rapidly  becoming  merged  in 
a  forest  of  other  monuments.  His  dead 
father,  his  poor  father,  was  losing  his  indi 
viduality,  till  he  was  a  mere  speck  in  this 
piebald  medley  of  mounds,  stones,  boards, 
and  all  sorts  of  waste.  Asriel  felt  deeply 
hurt.  He  retraced  his  steps  till  his  father's 
resting-place  once  more  became  the  centre 
of  the  world. 

Then  he  went  to  pay  his  respects  and  tears 
to  the  graves  of  his  mother,  sisters,  brothers, 
uncles.  At  last,  completely  exhausted,  he 
took  to  walking  among  the  other  headstones. 
As  he  stopped  to  make  out  their  Hebrew 
inscriptions,  he  would  now  hang  his  head,  in 
heart-wringing  reminiscence,  now  heave  a 
sigh,  or  clap  his  hands,  in  grievous  surprise. 

The  tombstones  and  tomb-boards  were 
bathed  in  the  reddish  gold  of  the  late  after 
noon  sun.  Asriel  had  not  yet  broken  his 
fast,  but  although  shattered  in  body  and 
spirit  he  felt  no  hunger  and  was  reluctant  to 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  45 

leave  the  graveyard.  He  found  here  more 
of  his  contemporaries  that  he  well  remem 
bered,  more  of  the  Pravly  of  his  time,  than  in 
the  town  a  verst  or  two  away.  The  place 
asserted  a  stronger  claim  upon  him  and  held 
him  by  the  force  of  its  unearthly  fascination. 
When  he  reached  town  at  last,  he  felt 
new-born.  Pravly  was  again  dear  to  his 
heart,  although  Flora  and  America  drew 
him  to  them  with  more  magnetism  than 
ever.  He  strove  to  speak  in  soft  accents, 
and  went  about  the  houses  of  his  relatives 
and  the  poor  of  the  town,  distributing  vari 
ous  sums  and  begging  the  recipients  of  his 
gifts  "  to  have  pity  and  not  to  thank  him," 
lest  it  should  detract  from  tho  value  of  his 
good  deed. 

Tho  11  ho  wont  to  make  poace  with  Hob 
Lippe. 

"  You  are  going  to  stay  horo,  so  you  can 
get  another  prodigy,"  ho  pleaded  humbly. 
"  But  ono  cannot  got  such  good*  in  America, 
Bcftitlcm,  you  can  road  Talmud  yourself, 
whilo  I  am  only  a  boor,  and  what  have  I 
dono  to  nmko  suro  of  my  sharo  in  the  world 
to  come?  Hero  are  three  hundred  rubles 
for  charity.  Do  forgive  me,  Reb  Lippe,  will 
you  ?  What  will  you  lose  by  it  ?  " 


46  THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

There  were  others  in  the  room,  and  the 
unique  pathos  of  the  plea  touched  and 
amused  them  at  once.  Reb  Lippe  was 
moved  to  the  point  of  tears.  Moreover,  the 
present  situation  took  the  venom  out  of  his 
defeat. 

"  I  forgive  you  with  all  my  heart,"  he 
said  impulsively,  patting  "the  boor"  as  he 
would  a  child.  "  Be  seated.  May  the  Up 
permost  bring  you  home  in  peace  and  bless 
the  union.  There  is  another  young  man 
who  is  worthy  of  my  daughter ;  and  Shaya 
•*—  may  the  Holy  One  —  blessed  be  He  — 
grant  him  the  will  and  the  power  to  spread 
His  Law  in  America.  The  Jews  there  want 
a  young  man  like  him,  and  I  am  glad  he  is 
going  with  you.  You  are  taking  a  precious 
stone  with  you,  Reb  Asriel.  Hold  it  dear.'* 

"  You  bet  I  will,"  Asriel  replied  gleefully. 


VI 

The  nearer  Asriel,  with  the  prodigy  in 
tow,  came  to  New  York,  the  deeper  did 
Pravly  sink  into  the  golden  mist  of  romance, 
and  the  more  real  did  the  great  American 
city  grow  in  his  mind.  Every  mile  added 
detail  to  the  picture,  and  every  new  bit  of 
detail  made  it  dearer  to  his  heart. 


77/A'    IMPORTED    URIDKHROOM          47 

I  To  was  going  homo,  Ho  folt  it  moro 
keenly,  moro  thrillingly  every  day,  every 
hour,  every  minute. 

Sandy  I  look  hovo  in  night. 

Can  there  bo  any  tiling  moro  beautiful,! 
more  sublime,  and  more  uplifting  than  thej 
view,  on  a  clear  summer  morning,  of  New 
York  harbor  from  an  approaching  ship  ? ' 
Shaya  Raw  in  the  enchanting  affect  of  soa, 
verdure,  and  sky  a  new  version  of  his  visions 
of  paradise,  where,  ensconced  behind  luxuri 
ant  foliage,  the  righteous  —  venerable  old 
men  with  silvery  beards  —  were  nodding 
and  swaying  over  gold-bound  tomes  of  the 
Talmud.  Yet,  overborne  with  its  looming 
grandeur,  his  heart  grew  heavy  with  sus 
pense,  and  he  clung  close  to  Asriel. 

All  was  bustlo  and  expectation  on  board. 
The  little  deck  engines  never  ceased  rum 
bling,  and  the  passengers,  spruced  up  as  if 
for  church,  were  busy  about  their  baggage, 
or  promenading  with  a  festive,  nervous  air. 

Anno!  twitched  and  bit  hi*  lip  in  rapture. 

"  Oh,  how  blue  the  water  is  1 "  said  Shaya 
wistfully. 

"  America  is  a  fine  country,  is  it  not  ? " 
the  old  man  rejoined.  "  But  it  can't  hold 
a  candle  to  Flora.  Wait  till  you  see  her. 


48  TUE   IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

You  just  try  to  be  a  good  boy,"  he  kept  mur 
muring  ;  "  stick  to  your  Talmud,  and  don't 
give  a  peper  for  anything  else,  and  all  God 
has  given  me  shall  be  yours.  I  have  no  son 
to  say  Kaddish  for  my  soul  when  I  am 
dead.  Will  you  be  my  Kaddish,  Shaya? 
Will  you  observe  the  anniversary  of  my 
death  ?  "  he  queried,  in  a  beseeching  tone 
which  the  young  man  had  never  heard  from 
him. 

"  Of  course  I  will,"  Shaya  returned,  like 
a  dutiful  child. 

"  Will  you  ?  May  you  live  long  for  it. 
In  palaces  will  I  house  you,  like  the  eye  in 
my  head  will  I  cherish  you.  I  am  only  a 
boor,  but  she  is  my  daughter,  my  only  child, 
and  my  whole  life  in  this  world." 

Asriel  kept  Flora  unadvised  as  to  the 
name  of  the  steamer  or  the  date  of  his  ar 
rival.  Upon  landing  he  did  not  go  directly 
to  his  residence,  but  first  took  his  importa 
tion  into  a  large  "clothing  and  gents'  fur 
nishing  store "  on  Broadway,  from  which 
the  illoui  emerged  completely  transformed. 
Instead  of  his  uncouth  cap  and  the  drag 
gling  coat  which  had  hidden  his  top-boots 
from  view,  he  was  now  arrayed  in  the  cost- 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  49 

liest  "Prince  Albert,"  the  finest  summer 
derby,  and  the  most  elegant  button-shoes 
the  store  contained.  This  and  a  starched 
shirt-front,  a  turned -down  collar,  and  a 
gaudy  puff-tie  set  into  higher  relief  the 
Byronic  effect  of  his  intellectual,  winsome 
face. 

Asriel  snapped  his  fingers  for  delight. 
He  thought  him  easily  the  handsomest  and 
best-dressed  man  on  Broadway.  "  It  is  the 
Divine  Presence  shining  upon  him ! "  he 
murmured  to  himself,  dragging  the  young 
man  by  the  hand,  as  if  he  were  a  truant 
schoolboy.  Barring  the  prodigy's  sidelocks 
(badges  of  divine  learning  and  piety),  which 
were  tightly  curled  into  two  little  cushions 
in  front  of  his  ears,  he  now  thought  him 
thoroughly  Americanized. 

The  prodigy,  however,  felt  tied  and  fet 
tered  in  the  garb  of  Gentile  civilization,  and 
as  he  trudged  along  by  his  convoy's  side,  he 
viewed  his  transformed  self  in  the  store 
windows,  or  stared,  rabbit-like,  at  the  lum 
bering  stage-coaches  and  the  hurrying  noble 
men. 

Asriel  let  himself  and  his  charge  in  noise 
lessly  with  the  latchkey,  which  had  accom 
panied  him,  together  with  a  bunch  of  other 


60     THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

keys,  on  his  tour.   They  entered  the  hallway 
on  tiptoe. 

The  little  house  rang  with  the  volumi 
nous  tones  of  Flora's  piano,  through  which 
trickled  the  doleful  tremolo  of  her  subdued 
contralto.  Since  her  father  had  left  her 
pining  for  his  return,  "  Home,  Sweet  Home  " 
had  become  her  favorite  tune. 

Flora  was  alone  in  the  house,  and  her 
unconscious  welcome  was  all  the  sweeter  to 
Asriel's  soul  for  the  grieving  note  which 
ran  through  it.  His  heart  throbbed  with 
violence.  Shaya's  sank  in  awe.  He  had 
never  heard  a  piano  except  through  the 
window  of  some  nobleman's  house. 

"  Hush.!  Do  you  hear  ?  "  the  old  man  whis 
pered.  "That's  your  predestined  bride." 
With  that  he  led  the  way  downstairs. 
There  they  paused  to  kiss  the  divine  name 
on  the  Mezuzah  of  the  door-post. 

"  Tamara !  "  Asriel  called,  under  his 
breath,  looking  for  the  pious  housekeeper  in 
the  dining-room  and  in  the  kitchen.  "  She 
is  not  in.  Must  be  out  marketing  or  about 
her  good  deeds.  A  dear  soul  she  !  Oh,  it 's 
her  fast  day ;  she  fasts  Mondays  and  Thurs 
days." 

Then  he  stepped  up  in  front  of  a  tin  box 


THE    IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  51 

that  was  nailed  to  one  of  the  kitchen  doors 
and  took  out  his  pocket-book.  It  was  one 
of  the  contribution-boxes  of  the  "  Meyer- 
the- Wonder-worker  Fund,"  which  is  devoted 
to  the  support  of  pious  old  European  Jews 
who  go  to  end  their  days  in  the  Land  of 
Israel.  Every  orthodox  Jew  in  the  world 
•  keeps  a  similar  box  in  his  house  and  drops 
a  coin  into  it  whenever  he  escapes  some 
danger.  Asriel  had  safely  crossed  the  wide 
ocean,  and  his  offering  was  a  handful  of 
silver. 

"  Well,  you  stay  here,  Shaya,  and  don't 
budge  till  you  are  called,"  he  said;  and 
leaving  the  young  man  to  his  perplexity 
he  betook  himself  upstairs,  to  surprise  his 
daughter. 

Flora  burst  into  tears  of  joy,  and  hugged 
him  again  and  again,  while  he  stroked  her 
black  hair  or  stood  scowling  and  grinning 
for  admiration. 

"  Ah,  you  dear,  cranky  papa !  "  she  burst 
out,  for  the  fourth  time  realizing  that  he 
was  actually  come  back  to  her,  and  for  the 
fourth  time  attacking  him. 

At  last  he  thought  they  had  had  enough. 
He  was  dying  to  protract  the  scene,  but 
there  was  that  troublesome  job  to  get  rid  of, 


62          THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

and  Asriel  was  not  the  man  to  put  such 
things  off.  Whenever  he  felt  somewhat 
timid  he  would  grow  facetious.  This  was 
the  case  at  the  present  juncture. 

"  Well,  Flora,  guess  what  sort  of  present 
your  papa  has  brought  you,"  he  said,  redden 
ing  to  his  ears.  "  I  '11  bet  you  you  won't 
hit  if  you  keep  on  guessing  till  to-morrow. 
No  girl  has  ever  got  such  a  present  as  long 
as  America  is  America." 

Flora's  eyes  danced  with  joyous  anticipa 
tion.  Her  mind  was  ablaze  with  diamonds, 
'rubies,  emeralds,  sapphires,  pearls. 

"  I  have  got  a  bridegroom  for  you  —  a 
fifteen-thousand-dollar  one.  Handsomest  and 
smartest  fellow  on  earth.  He  is  an  illoui" 

"  A  what  ?  "  she  asked,  in  amazement. 

"  Oh,  a  wonderful  chap,  you  know,  deep 
in  the  Talmud  and  the  other  holy  books. 
He  could  knock  all  the  rabbis  of  Europe  to 
smithereens.  The  biggest  bug  in  Pravly 
was  after  him,  but  I  beat  him  clean  out  of 
his  boots.  Shaya !  Come  right  up  !  " 

The  girl  gazed  at  her  father  in  bewilder 
ment.  Was  he  joking  or  was  he  in  dead, 
terrific  earnest? 

Shaya  made  his  appearance,  with  his  eyes 
on  the  floor,  and  wringing  the  index  finger 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  53 

of  his  right  hand,  as  he  was  wont  to  do 
whenever  he  felt  ill  at  ease,  which  was  sel 
dom,  however. 

Flora's  brain  was  in  a  whirl. 

"  This  is  your  predestined  bridegroom, 
my  daughter.  A  fine  present,  is  it  not? 
Did  you  ever  expect  such  a  raisin  of  a 
sweetheart,  hey?  Well,  children,  I  must 
go  around  to  see  about  the  baggage.  Have 
a  chat  and  be  acquainted. "  With  that 
he  advanced  to  the  door. 

"  Papa !  Papa  !  "  Flora  frantically  called 
to  him.  But  he  never  turned  his  head  and 
went  his  way. 

In  her  despair  she  rushed  at  the  young 
stranger,  who  was  still  wringing  his  finger,  as 
he  stood  in  the  middle  of  the  parlor,  eyeing 
the  carpet,  and  snapped  out :  — 

"  Mister,  you  had  better  go.  If  you  think 
you  are  going  to  be  my  bridegroom,  you  are 
sadly  mistaken." 

She  spoke  in  Yiddish,  but  her  pronuncia 
tion,  particularly  of  the  letter  "  r,"  was  so 
decidedly  American  that  to  Shaya  it  sounded 
at  once  like  his  native  tongue  and  the  lan 
guage  of  Gentiles.  However,  it  was  Yiddish 
enough,  and  the  fact  of  this  imposing  young 
lady  speaking  it  gave  him  the  feeling  of 


64  THE   IMPORTED    BRIDEGROOM 

being  in  the  presence  of  a  Jewish  princess 
of  biblical  times. 

"  Where  shall  I  go  ?  I  don't  know  any 
body  here."  He  said  it  with  an  air  of 
naive  desperation  which  touched  the  girl's 
heart.  "Where  is  my  fault?"  he  added 
pleadingly. 

She  gave  him  a  close  look,  and,  taking 
him  by  his  clean-cut  beardless  chin,  opened 
her  eyes  wide  at  him,  and  broke  into  a  hearty 
laugh. 

"  My  father  has  really  brought  you  over 
to  marry  me  ?  "  she  questioned,  for  the  first 
time  awakening  to  the  humorous  side  of  the 
situation,  and  again  she  burst  out  laughing. 

Shaya  blushed  and  took  hold  of  his  finger, 
but  he  forthwith  released  it  and  also  broke 
into  a  giggle.  Her  merriment  set  him  at  his 
ease,  and  her  labored  Yiddish  struck  him  as 
the  prattle  of  a  child. 

Flora  was  amused  and  charmed  as  with  a 
baby.  Shaya  felt  as  if  he  were  playing  with 
another  boy. 

Of  all  the  immigrants  who  had  married 
or  were  engaged  to  marry  some  of  her  girl 
friends,  none  had,  just  after  landing,  been  so 
presentable,  so  sweet-faced,  and  so  droll  as 
this  scholarly-looking  fellow.  There  would 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  55 

have  been  nothing  odd  in  her  marrying  him 
a  year  or  two  later,  after  he  had  picked  up 
some  broken  English  and  some  of  the  cus 
toms  of  the  country.  But  then  her  mind 
was  firmly  made  up,  and  she  had  boasted  to 
her  friends  that  she  was  bound  to  marry  a 
doctor,  and  here  this  boy  was  not  even  going 
to  be  a  business  man,  but  an  orthodox  rabbi 
or  something  of  the  sort.  The  word  "rabbi " 
was  associated  in  her  mind  with  the  image 
of  an  unkempt,  long-skirted  man  who  knew 
nothing  of  the  world,  took  snuff,  and  made 
life  a  nuisance  to  himself  and  to  others.  Is 
she  going  to  be  a  rabbitzen  (a  rabbi's  wife)  \ 
No !  No  !  No  !  Come  what  may,  none  but 
a  refined  American  gentleman  shall  lead  her 
under  the  nuptial  canopy !  And  in  her  rage 
she  fled  from  the  parlor  and  went  to  nurse 
her  misery  on  the  dining-room  lounge. 

Presently,  as  she  lay  with  her  hands 
clasped  under  her  head,  abandoned  to  her 
despair  and  fury,  and  yet  unable  to  realize 
that  it  was  all  in  real  earnest,  a  fretting  sen 
sation  settled  somewhere  in  her  heart.  At 
first  it  was  only  like  a  grain  of  sand,  but  it 
kept  growing  till  it  lay  a  heavy,  unbearable 
lump.  She  could  not  stand  the  idea  of  that 
poor,  funny  dear  being  left  alone  and  scared 


56  THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

out  of  his  wits.  Still,  she  would  not  stir. 
Let  papa  take  him  away  or  she  will  leave 
the  house  and  go  to  work  in  a  factory. 

"  Tamara!  "  she  suddenly  raised  herself  to 
say,  the  moment  the  housekeeper  came  into 
the  room.  "  There  is  a  man  upstairs.  He 
must  be  hungry."  %, 

"  Then  why  don't  you  give  him  something 
to  eat  ?  "  Tamara  responded  tartly.  "  You 
know  it  is  Monday  and  I  am  faint.  But 
who  is  he  and  what  is  he  doing  upstairs  ? 
Let  him  come  down." 
'  "  Go  and  see  him  for  yourself,"  snapped 
Flora.  "  You  will  find  him  one  of  your  set — 
a  Talmud  ical  scholar,  a  pious  soul,"  she 
added,  with  a  venomous  laugh. 

Tamara  bent  upon  her  a  look  full  of  re 
sentment  as  well  as  of  devout  reproach,  and 
betook  herself  upstairs. 

When  Asriel  came  he  explained  that 
Shaya  was  not  going  to  be  a  rabbi,  nor 
dress  otherwise  than  as  an  American  gentle 
man,  but  that  he  would  lead  a  life  of  piety 
and  spend  his  time  studying  the  Talmud, 
partly  at  home  and  partly  at  some  synagogue. 
"  What,  then,  have  I  worked  all  my  life  for?  " 
he  pleaded.  "  I  am  only  a  boor,  my  daugh 
ter,  and  how  long  does  a  fellow  live  ?  Don't 
darken  my  days,  Flora." 


THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM     57 

Tamara  kept  nodding  pious  assent.  "  In 
the  old  country  a  girl  like  you  would  be  glad 
to  marry  such  a  child  of  the  Law,"  she  ex 
postulated  with  the  girl.  "  It  is  only  here 
that  we  are  sinners  and  girls  marry  none  but 
worldly  men.  May  every  daughter  of  Israel 
be  blessed  with  such  a  match." 

"  Mind  your  own  business ! "  Flora  ex 
ploded.  She  understood  her  father's  expla 
nation  but  vaguely,  and  it  had  the  opposite 
of  the  desired  effect  upon  her. 

"  Leave  her  alone.  The  storm  will  blow 
over,"  Asriel  whispered. 

When  Asriel's  baggage  arrived  it  proved 
to  include  a  huge  box  full  of  Hebrew  books. 
They  were  of  various  sizes,  but  twenty-five 
of  them  were  large,  uniform,  leather-bound 
folio  volumes,  portly  and  resplendent  in  a 
superabundance  of  gilding  and  varnish.  Of 
these,  twenty  contained  the  whole  of  the 
Babylonian  Talmud  together  with  the  vari 
ous  commentaries,  the  remaining  five  com 
prising  the  Alphos.  After  a  little  a  walnut 
bookcase  made  its  appearance.  It  was  ac 
corded  a  place  of  honor  in  the  front  parlor, 
and  Asriel,  Tamara,  and  Shaya  busied  them 
selves  with  arranging  the  sacred  books  on 
its  shelves. 


68  THE  IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

Flora  sat  eyeing  them  sarcastically,  till, 
sobs  rising  to  her  throat,  she  retired  to  the 
seclusion  of  her  bedroom,  on  the  top  floor, 
and  burst  out  crying  as  if  her  heart  would 
break.  The  contents  of  all  those  books, 
which  her  father  had  imported  as  accesso 
ries  of  her  would-be  bridegroom,  were  Chi 
nese  to  her.  She  had  never  seen  so  many 
of  them  nor  given  a  moment's  attention  to 
the  occasional  talks  which  she  had  chanced 
to  overhear  concerning  such  books  and  the 
men  who  spent  their  lives  reading  them. 
They  now  frightened  her,  as  if  they  were 
filled  with  weird  incantations  and  Shaya 
were  the  master  of  some  uncanny  art. 

The  prodigy  was  busy  arranging  his 
library,  now  and  then  opening  a  book  to 
examine  its  print.  Presently,  as  he  was 
squatting  down  before  a  chair  upon  which 
he  was  turning  over  the  leaves  of  a  bulky 
volume,  his  attention  was  arrested  by  a  cele 
brated  passage.  Without  changing  his  pos 
ture,  he  proceeded  to  glance  it  over,  until, 
completely  absorbed,  he  fell  to  humming 
the  words,  in  that  peculiar  sing-song,  ac 
companied  by  indescribable  controversial 
gesticulations,  which  seem  to  be  as  indispen 
sable  in  reading  Talmud  as  a  pair  of  eyes. 


THE   1 M PORT 'ED   BRIDEGROOM  59 

"Look,  look!  "  Tamara  nudged  Asriel, 
whom  she  was  helping  to  transfer  the  re 
maining  books  to  the  marble  table.  Asriel 
turned  his  head  toward  the  prodigy,  and 
for  a  few  moments  the  two  stood  staring  at 
the  odd,  inspiring  spectacle  with  gaping  ad 
miration.  Then  the  housekeeper  and  her 
employer  exchanged  a  glance  of  intelligence, 
she  nodding  her  bewigged  head  piously,  as 
much  as  to  say :  "  What  a  find  Heaven  has 
placed  in  your  way  I " 

"The  Uppermost  has  blessed  you,"  she 
added  in  whispers. 

"  May  he  enjoy  long  life  with  us !  "  As 
riel  returned,  with  a  sigh. 

"  Flora  does  not  know  what  a  treasure 
the  Lord  of  the  Universe  has  sent  her." 

"  She  will,"  he  rejoined  curtly. 

VII. 

It  was  at  the  head  of  a  dozen  venerable 
Talmudists,  including  the  rabbi  of  the  con 
gregation,  that  Asriel  returned  from  the 
synagogue  next  Saturday  morning.  The 
learned  company  was  entertained  with  wine, 
cold  fish,  and  some  of  the  lemon  pie  and  gen 
uine  Yiddish  pastry  for  which  Tamara  was 
famous. 


60  THE   IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

"  Here  is  life,  Mr.  Stroon  !  Here  is  life, 
Shay  a ! "  each  of  the  guests  said,  raising  his 
glass. 

"  Life  and  peace !  Life  and  peace !  "  was 
the  uniform  response. 

44  God  bless  the  union  and  let  them  live  a 
hundred  and  twenty  years,"  pursued  Reb 
Mendele,  a  little  man  with  luxuriant  red 
side-locks,  as  he  reached  for  a  piece  of  Sab 
bath  cake. 

44  And  grant  that  they  give  birth  to  chil 
dren  and  bring  them  up  to  the  Law,  the 
Bridal  Canopy,  and  deeds  of  righteous 
ness,"  chimed  in  another,  whose  ear-locks 
were  two  sorry  corkscrew-like  appendages, 
as  he  held  up  a  slice  of  fish  on  the  points  of 
his  fork. 

44  And  Shaya  continue  a  child  of  the  Law 
and  study  it  with  never-failing  zeal,"  came 
from  between  a  dangling  pair  of  tubes. 

44  That 's  the  point !  "  emphasized  a  chorus 
of  munching  mouths. 

44  But  where  is  the  bride  ? "  somebody 
demanded.  4t  She  must  show  herself  I  she 
must  show  herself  !  " 

4- That's  right,"  Reb  Mendele  seconded 
heartily.  44  Out  with  the  bride  !  4  And  the 
daughters  of  Jerusalem  come  out  dancing,'  " 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  61 

he  quoted ;  " '  and  what  do  they  say  ?  "  Lift 
thine  eyes,  young  man,  and  behold  the 
maiden  thou  choosest.  Do  not  set  thine  eye 
on  beauty,  but "  "  —  He  broke  off  ab 
ruptly,  reddening.  The  remainder  of  the 
quoted  passage  runs  as  follows :  "  Set  thine 
eye  (the  maidens  say  to  the  young  man) 
on  good  family  connections,  as  is  written 
in  Proverbs :  *  False  is  grace  and  vain  is 
beauty :  a  woman  that  feareth  the  Lord 
shall  indeed  be  praised.' "  It  would  have 
been  anything  but  appropriate  to  the  occa 
sion,  and  while  the  Chaldaic  and  the  Hebrew 
of  the  citation  were  Greek  to  Asriel,  there 
was  the  prodigy  to  resent  it. 

Another  hoary-headed  child  of  the  Law 
interposed :  " 4  Go  forth  and  look,  O  ye 
daughters  of  Zibn,  on  King  Solomon,  with 
the  crown  wherewith  his  mother  hath 
crowned  him  on  the  day  of  his  espousals, 
and  on  the  day  of  the  joy  of  his  heart.' 
Saith  the  Talmud  :  4  By  "  the  day  of  his  es 
pousals"  is  meant  the  day  of  the  Giving 
of  the  Law.'  Accordingly,  when  Shaya's 
wedding  takes  place,  if  God  be  pleased,  it 
will  be  an  espousal  in  the  literal  as  well  as 
in  the  Talmudic  sense,  for  is  he  not  full  of 
Law?  It  will  therefore  be  the  Giving  of 


62  THE  IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

the  Law  in  marriage  to  Reb  Asriel's  daugh 
ter,  will  it  not?" 

"  Never  mind  blushing,  Shaya,"  said  the 
rabbi,  although  the  prodigy,  engrossed  with 
the  "  paradise  taste  "  of  the  lemon  pie,  —  a 
viand  he  had  never  dreamed  of,  —  and  keep 
ing  a  sharp  eye  on  the  dwindling  contents 
of  the  tart-dish,  was  too  busy  to  blush. 

Flora  was  in  her  bedroom,  the  place  of 
her  voluntary  exile  most  of  the  time  that 
her  compulsory  sweetheart  was  in  the  house. 
Her  father  was  kind  and  attentive  to  her,  as 
usual,  and  never  mentioned  Shaya's  name 
to  her.  But  she  knew  that  he  was  irrevoca 
bly  bent  upon  the  marriage,  and  her  mood 
often  verged  on  suicide.  Could  it  really  be 
that  after  all  her  cherished  dreams  of  after 
noon  drives  in  Central  Park,  in  a  doctor's 
buggy  and  with  the  doctor  himself  by  her 
side,  she  was  doomed  to  be  the  wife  of  that 
clumsy  rustic,  who  did  not  even  know  how 
to  shake  hands  or  to  bow  to  a  lady,  and  who 
could  not  say  a  word  without  performing 
some  grotesque  gesture  or  curling  his  hor 
rid  side-locks?  Oh,  what  would  the  girls 
say !  She  had  twitted  them  on  the  broken 
English  of  their  otherwise  worldly  and  com 
paratively  well-mannered  sweethearts,  and 


THE   IMPORTED   nit/Df-GROOM          6:1 

now    she   herself    was    matched   with  that 
wretch  of  a  holy  HOU!  ! 

And  yet  Sliaya  was  never  in  her  mind  in- 
vested  in  the  imago  of  a  "  clumsy  rustic  " 
nor  of  a  "  holy  soul."  Whenever  she  saw 
him  she  would  screw  up  a  frown,  but  on 
ono  occasion,  when  their  PVCH  mot  IUM-OHS 
the  supper-table,  they  could  not  help  smil 
ing  to  each  other,  like  children  at  church, 

"Flora  dear,  I  want  to  speak  to  you,'* 
Asriel  said,  knocking  at  the  locked  door  of 
her  hiding-place. 

"  Leave  mo  alone,  papa,  will  you  ?  I  Ve 
got  a  headache,"  she  responded. 

"  That 's  all  right,  but  unlock  the  door. 
I  won't  oat  you  up." 

She  was  burning  to  have  her  father  broach 
the  painful  subject,  so  that  she  might  have 
it  out  with  him.  With  that  end  in  view, 
she  set  her  teeth  and  turned  the  key.  But 
Asriel  came  in  so  unaggressive,  so  meek,  in 
a  pleading  attitude  so  utterly  unlike  him, 
that  ho  took  her  by  surprise,  as  it  wore,  and 
she  stood  completely  disarmed. 

"  I  bog  you,  my  daughter,  do  not  shorten 
my  days,  and  come  down-stairs,"  he  en- 
treated  with  heartfelt  ardor.  "I  have  so 
little  to  live,  and  the  Uppermost  has  sent 


64  THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

me  a  piece  of  comfort  so  that  I  may  die  a 
righteous  Jew,  —  will  you  take  it  away  from 
me  ?  Will  you  put  me  to  shame  before  God 
and  man  ?  " 

The  words  and  the  pathos  with  which 
they  were  delivered  so  oddly  contrasted  with 
all  she  knew  of  her  father  that  she  felt  as  if 
he  were  really  praying  for  his  life.  She  was 
deeply  touched  and  dazed,  and  before  she 
knew  what  she  was  about,  found  herself  in 
the  crowded  little  dining-room  below. 

"  Good  Sabbath,  Flora,  good  Sabbath  !  " 
the  venerable  assemblage  greeted  her. 

"  Good  Sabbath  !  "  she  returned,  bowing 
gracefully,  and  blushing. 

44  May  your  guest  be  pleasing  to  you," 
one  of  the  company  went  on  in  time-honored 
phrase ;  "  and,  if  God  be  pleased,  we  shall 
live  to  make  merry  at  your  wedding." 

Flora's  face  turned  a  deeper  red. 

Several  of  the  Talimidists  were  itching  for 
some  banter  at  the  expense  of  the  young 
pair,  but  the  American  girl's  dignified  bear 
ing  and  her  commanding  figure  and  dress 
bore  down  every  tendency  in  that  direction, 
so  that  the  scholarly  old  gentlemen  turned 
their  overflowing  spirits  in  other  channels. 

44  Give  us  some  Law,  Shaya ! "  said  Reb 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  65 

Mendele,  with  a  Talmudic  wave  of  both 
hands. 

"That's  right,"  the  others  concurred. 
"Your  prospective  father-in-law  is  feastino- 
us  upon  fare  of  the  earth,  and  it  is  meet 
that  you  should  regale  us  with  Words  of 
Law." 

Shaya,  his  face  as  red  as  Flora's,  was  eye 
ing  the  tablecloth  as  he  murmured,  — 

"  4  No  conversing  during  repast.'  " 

"Words  of  Law  are  no  converse,"  Reb 
Mendele  retorted. 

"The  Commentary  adds:  'Not  so  much 
as  to  quote  the  precept  about  silence  during 
repast,?  "  Shaya  rejoined  reluctantly,  with 
out  raising  his  eyes.  "  Now  the  precept  is 
Words  of  the  Law,  is  it  not  ?  Which  means 
that  the  prohibition  does  extend  to  Words 
of  Law." 

Apart  from  his  embarrassment,  the  pro 
digy  was  somehow  loath  to  engage  in  a 
spiritual  discussion  in  the  presence  of  the 
stylish  young  lady. 

"Why  did  you  quote  it  then?"  Reb 
Mendele  pursued  aggressively.  He  referred 
to  two  other  passages,  in  support  of  his 
position;  and  Shaya,  with  his  eyes  still  on 
the  tablecloth,  and  refraining  from  all  ges- 


66  THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

ticulation,  could  not  help  showing  the  irrele 
vance  of  both.  It  was  a  "  knock-out  blow," 
but  his  red-bearded  opponent  cleverly  extri 
cated  himself  from  the  ignominy  of  his  de 
feat  by  assuming  an  amused  air,  as  if  it  had 
all  been  mere  bait  to  decoy  the  prodigy  to  a 
display  of  his  erudition  and  mental  powers ; 
and  retaining  his  smile  against  further 
emergency,  Reb  Mendele  hazarded  another 
assault.  Some  of  the  other  Talmudists  took 
a  hand.  The  battle  waxed  hot,  though 
Shaya,  fighting  single-handed  against  half  a 
dozen  elders,  remained  calm,  and  parried 
their  blows  with  a  shamefaced  but  contemp 
tuous  look,  never  raising  a  finger  nor  his 
eyes  from  the  tablecloth.  Once  in  the  fray, 
he  would  not  have  Flora  see  him  get  the 
worst  of  it. 

She,  on  her  part,  could  not  help  a  growing 
interest  in  the  debate,  and  finally  accepted 
the  chair  which  Tamara  had  tenderly  placed 
by  her  side  five  minutes  before.  To  be 
sure,  she  understood  not  a  word  of  the  con 
troversy.  To  her  it  was  something  like  a 
boxing-match,  with  every  exciting  element 
of  the  sport,  but  without  any  of  its  violence 
(which  alone  kept  Flora  from  attending 
pugilistic  performances),  though  the  arms 


T1IE    IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  67 

and  fingers  of  our  venerable  combatants 
were  even  more  active  than  are  the  arms 
and  fists  of  two  athletes  in  a  modern  ring. 
As  she  watched  the  progress  of  the  discus 
sion  she  became  conscious  of  a  decided  par 
tisan  feeling  in  favor  of  the  younger  man. 
"  It  ain't  fair  a  bit ! "  she  said  to  herself. 
"  Six  old-timers  against  one  boy  —  I  de 
clare  ! " 

Asriel  and  Tamara,  to  both  of  whom  the 
contest  was  as  unintelligible  as  it  was  to 
Flora,  were  so  abandoned  to  their  admira 
tion  of  the  youthful  disputant  that  they 
omitted  to  notice  the  girl's  undisguised 
interest  in  the  scene  and  to  congratulate 
themselves  upon  it.  The  host  followed  the 
controversy  with  a  sheepish  look  of  rever 
ence,  as  if  the  company  were  an  assemblage 
of  kings.  The  housekeeper  looked  on  with 
a  beaming  face,  and  every  time  one  of  the 
patriarchs  made  a  bold  attack,  she  would 
nod  her  head  as  if  she  understood  it  all, 
and  conceded  the  strength  of  his  contention. 

Egged  on  by  Flora's  presence  as  well  as 
by  the  onslaughts  of  his  adversaries,  Shaya 
gradually  warmed  up  to  the  debate,  until, 
having  listened,  with  sardonic  patience,  to  a 
lengthy  and  heated  argument  by  a  fleshy 


68  THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

child  of  the  Law,  he  suddenly  leaped  upon 
his  man. 

64  Is  this  the  way  you  understand  the  pas 
sage?"  he  shouted,  with  a  vicious  chuckle. 
Then,  thrusting  his  curly  head  in  his  oppo 
nent's  face,  and  savagely  gesticulating,  he 
poured  forth  a  veritable  cataract  of  the 
most  intricate  syllogisms  and  quotations. 

It  was  quite  a  new  Shaya.  His  blue  eyes 
flashed  fire,  his  whole  countenance  gleamed, 
his  sing-song  rang  with  tuneful  ferocity. 

"  But  it  seems  to  me  that  Rabbi  Yohanon 
does  not  say  that,"  the  portly  Talmudist 
objected.  "  I  am  afraid  you  have  misquoted 
him." 

It  was  the  drowning  man's  straw.  Even 
Flora,  who  understood  the  Yiddish  of  the 
retort,  could  see  that ;  and  her  heart  bounded 
with  cruel  delight. 

"  Have  I  ?  You  are  sure,  are  you  ?  "  Shaya 
demanded,  with  boyish  virulence.  "All 
right.  We  shall  see!"  With  which  he 
darted  out  of  the  room  and  upstairs. 

"  The  boy  is  a  gaon" l  the  corpulent  old 
man  remarked  humbly.  "What  a  head! 
What  a  memory,  what  a  chariff!  "  2 

"Yes,  and  what  a  6oMi/"8  chimed  in 

1  A  genius.  a  Acute  intellect. 

8  Man  of  erudition. 


THE    IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  69 

the  rabbi.  "One  cannot  help  wondering 
when  he  had  time  to  study  up  so  much." 

"  He  '11  just  take  a  peep  at  a  book  and 
then  he  knows  it  all  by  heart,"  put  in  Asriel. 
"  He  licked  all  the  rabbis  around  Pravly." 

The  boorish  remark  disposed  some  of  the 
listeners  to  laugh,  but  they  did  not. 

"You  have  got  a  treasure,  Mr.  Stroon," 
said  Reb  Mendele. 

"  You  bet ! "  the  host  answered  with  a 
blissful  simper,  as  he  took  to  stroking  his 
daughter's  hair. 

"  You  know  what  the  Talmud  says,  Mr. 
Stroon?"  resumed  the  rabbi.  "That  he 
who  supports  a  scholar  of  the  Law  is  like 
unto  him  who  offers  sacrifices." 

"  I  know,"  Asriel  returned  exultingly. 
At  the  Pravly  synagogue  the  preacher  had 
applied  the  same  quotation  to  Reb  Lippe. 

Presently  Shaya  returned  with  a  pile  of 
huge  volumes  in  his  arms.  His  citation 
proved  correct,  and  meeting  with  no  further 
opposition,  but  too  far  carried  away  by  the 
subject  to  quit  it  so  soon,  he  volunteered  an 
extemporaneous  discourse.  His  face  was 
now  wrapped  in  genial,  infantile  ecstasy 
and  his  intonation  was  a  soft,  impassioned 
melody.  The  old  man  followed  him  with 
paternal  admiration. 


70  THE   IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

When  he  concluded  and  leaned  back  in 
his  chair,  he  gave  Flora  a  triumphant  smile. 
The  color  mounted  to  her  cheeks  and  she 
dropped  her  gaze.  At  the  same  moment 
Asriel  flung  himself  upon  the  young  hero. 

"  Oh,  you  dear  little  sparrow ! "  he  ex 
claimed,  lifting  Shay  a  in  his  arms  like  a 
baby,  and  passionately  kissing  him. 

Tamara  wiped  her  eyes  with  her  apron. 
Flora  had  a  mind  to  flee  for  safety,  but  she 
forthwith  saw  herself  out  of  danger,  for  her 
father  seemed  unmindful  of  her  presence, 
•and  the  first  thing  he  did  as  he  let  the  pro 
digy  down  was  to  invite  his  guests  upstairs 
to  show  them  the  newly  imported  library. 

As  the  patriarchal  company  was  filing  out 
of  the  dining-room,  Shaya,  passing  by  Flora, 
said  to  her  gleefully  :  — 

"  I  gave  it  to  them,  did  n't  I  ?  " 

"  Tell  me  now,  "  said  Tamara,  when  the 
two  women  found  themselves  alone  in  the 
room  ;  "  ought  you  not  to  thank  God  for 
such  a  treasure  of  a  sweetheart?" 

44  He  is  nothing  of  the  kind  to  me,"  Flora 
burst  out,  44  and  he  never  will  be,  either.  I 
don't  care  how  long  papa  is  going  to  keep 
him  in  the  house." 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  71 

VIII 

"Oh,  papa!"  sobbed  Flora;  "will  you 
ever  put  an  end  to  it  ?  You  know  I  '11  never 
marry  him." 

"  Do  I  compel  you  to  ? "  he  replied. 
"  What  do  you  care  if  he  is  in  the  house  ?  He 
does  not  toke  away  your  dinner,  does  he  ? 
Imagine  that  he  is  your  brother  and  don't 
bother  your  head  about  him.  The  boy  has 
become  so  dear  to  me  that  I  feel  as  if  he 
were  my  own  son.  Will  you  recite  Kaddish 
for  my  soid  ?  Will  you  play  for  me  at  the 
anniversary  of  my  death  ?  God  thought  I 
was  not  good  enough  to  have  a  son,  but  he 
sent  me  this  holy  child  to  take  the  place  of 
one.  As  I  hear  him  read  his  holy  books,"  he 
went  on,  with  mounting  pathos,  "it  melts 
like  ice-cream  in  my  heart.  It  pleased  the 
Uppermost  to  make  a  boor  of  your  papa. 
Well,  I  suppose  He  knows  his  business,  and 
I  am  not  going  to  poke  my  nose  in,  and  ask 
questions  ;  but  He  seems  to  have  taken  pity 
on  me  after  all,  and  in  my  old  age  he  has 
sent  me  an  angel,  so  that  I  may  get  the 
credit  of  supporting  him.  Did  you  hear  what 
the  wise  men  said  ?  That  to  support  a  man 
who  does  nothing  but  study  sacred  books 


72  THE   IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

is  as  good  as  offering  sacrifices.  Yes,  my 
daughter,  God  has  put  this  boy  in  my  hands  ; 
He  sent  me  all  the  way  to  Pravly  for  him  — 
all  to  give  me  a  chance  to  make  up  for  my 
sins.  Do  you  want  me  to  kick  him  out? 
Not  if  New  York  turned  upside  down." 

"  But,  father  "  — 

"  Hold  on  !  Let  me  talk  the  heart,  out  of 
myself.  It 's  no  use  asking  me  to  send  him 
away.  He  is  God's  gift.  He  is  as  holy  as 
a  Purity  (the  scrolls  of  the  Law).  You  are 
my  daughter,  and  he  is  my  son.  I  don't 
1  chase  you  under  the  bridal  canopy  with  a 
strap,  do  I?  If  God  does  not  wish  the 
match,  it  won't  come  off,  that 's  all." 

The  conversation  took  place  about  a  fort 
night  after  the  great  debate.  Asriel  lived 
in  the  hope  that  when  Shaya  had  learned 
some  English  and  the  ways  of  Flora's  circle, 
she  would  get  to  like  him.  He  could  not 
see  how  it  was  possible  to  withstand  the 
charms  of  the  young  man  whom  he  sincerely 
thought  the  handsomest  fellow  in  the  Jewish 
colony.  He  provided  him  with  a  teacher, 
and  trusted  the  rest  to  time  and  God. 

"  Just  fix  him  up  in  English  and  a  little 
figuring,  and  that 's  all,"  he  instructed  the 
teacher.  "  But  mind  you,  don't  take  him 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  73 

too  far  into  those  Gentile  books  of  yours. 
lie  does  not  want  any  of  the  monkey  tricks 
they  teach  the  children  at  college.  Do  you 
understand  ?  " 

Flora  was  getting  used  to  Sliaya's  presence 
in  the  house,  as  if  he  actually  were  a  newly 
discovered  brother  of  hers,  brought  up  in  a 
queer  way  which  she  could  not  understand, 
and  it  was  only  occasionally  and  at  growing 
intervals  that  the  situation  would  burst  upon 
her,  and  she  would  plead  with  her  father  as 
she  had  done. 

The  two  young  people  frequently  found 
themselves  alone.  The  door  between  the 
front  parlor,  which  was  now  Shaya's  study, 
and  Flora's  boudoir  was  most  of  the  time 
open.  They  often  talked  together,  and  she 
quizzed  him  about  his  manners,  and  once 
or  twice  even  went  over  his  English  lessons 
with  him,  laughing  at  his  mispronuncia 
tions,  and  correcting  them  in  the  imposing 
manner  of  her  former  school-teachers. 

"Why  do  you  work  your  fingers  like 
that  ?  "  she  once  said,  with  a  pained  look. 
"  Can't  you  try  and  read  without  them  ?  " 

"I  am  used  to  it  from  the  Talmud-he- 
he-he  ! "  he  tittered,  as  if  acknowledging  a 
compliment. 


74     THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

Her  piano  did  not  disturb  him  in  his 
studies,  for  in  the  synagogues,  where  he  had 
grown  up,  he  had  been  used  to  read  in  a 
turmoil  of  other  voices ;  but  he  loved  the 
instrument,  and  he  would  often  pause  to  lis 
ten  to  Flora's  energetic  strokes  through  the 
door.  When  the  tune  was  a  melancholy  one 
its  first  accords  would  make  him  start,  with 
a  thrill ;  and  as  he  proceeded  to  listen  his 
heart  would  contract  with  a  sharp  feeling  of 
homesickness,  and  at  the  same  time  he  would 
be  longing  for  still  more  familiarity  in  the 
performer's  manner  toward  him.  Sometimes 
he  would  cross  over  to  her  room  and  quietly 
stand  behind  her  while  she  was  playing. 

"  Ah,  it  is  so  nice  !  "  he  once  said,  feeling 
himself  in  a  paradise  on  earth. 

"  What  are  you  doing  here  ? "  she  ex 
claimed,  facing  about  toward  him,  in  affected 
surprise.  "  Music  ain't  for  a  4  holy  child ' 
like  yourself."  She  mocked  a  favorite  ex 
pression  of  her  father's. 

"Don't  say  that,"  he  reproached  her. 
"  You  always  like  to  tease  me.  Why  don't 
I  tease  you  ?  " 

Upon  the  whole,  Shaya  took  the  situation 
quite  recklessly.  He  studied  his  Talmud 
and  his  English,  let  Tamara  cloy  him  with 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  75 

all  sorts  of  tidbits,  and  roamed  about  the 
streets  and  public  buildings.  In  less  than 
six  months  he  knew  the  city  and  its  suburbs 
much  better  than  Flora,  and  could  tell  the 
meaning  of  thousands  of  printed  English 
words,  although  he  neither  knew  how  to  use 
them  himself  nor  recognized  them  in  the 
speech  of  others.  Flora  was  amazed  by  his 
rapid  progress,  and  the  facility  with  which 
he  mastered  his  Arithmetic  and  English 
Grammar —  in  neither  of  which  she  had 
been  strong  at  school  —  even  piqued  her 
ambition.  It  was  as  if  she  had  been  beaten 
by  the  "  holy  soul "  on  her  own  ground. 

The  novelty  of  studying  things  so  utterly 
out  of  his  rut  was  like  a  newly  discovered 
delicacy  to  his  mental  palate.  He  knew  by 
heart  a  considerable  part  of  the  English 
translation  in  his  Hebrew  prayer-book  and 
Old  Testament,  and  his  greatest  pleasure, 
when  Asriel  was  not  about,  was  to  do  arith 
metical  problems.  But  the  problems  were 
all  child's  play  to  him,  and  he  craved  some 
higher  grade  of  intellectual  food  in  the  same 
Gentile  line.  This  he  knew  from  his  Tal 
mud  to  be  contained  in  the  "  Wisdom  of 
Measuring,"  which  he  had  learned  of  his 
teacher  to  call  Geometry. 


76     THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

"  Bring  me  a  Geometry,  please/'  he  whis 
pered  to  his  instructor. 

"I  will,  but  don't  say  a  word  to  Mr. 
Stroon  about  it." 

The  forbidden  fruit  was  furnished,  and 
the  prodigy  of  sacred  lore  applied  himself 
to  it  with  voracity. 

"  How  cunning !  "  he  said  to  the  teacher, 
in  a  transport  of  enthusiasm.  "  Of  course, 
it  is  .not  as  deep  as  Talmud,  but  I  never 
dreamed  there  were  such  subtle  things  in 
the  Gentile  books  at  all  —  may  I  be  ill  if  I 
did." 

"  This  is  only  the  beginning  of  it," 
the  other  returned,  in  whispered  exultation. 
"  Wait  till  you  get  deeper  into  it.  And 
then  there  are  other  books,  far  more  inter 
esting." 

"  Say,  young  fellow ! "  Asriel  said  to 
Shaya's  teacher  a  week  or  so  later ;  "  you 
need  not  trouble  your  righteous  legs  to 
bring  you  here  any  more.  You  are  getting 
too  thick  with  the  boy." 

Shaya  now  found  no  difficulty  in  plodding 
through  the  theorems  and  problems  unaided. 
But  he  yearned  after  his  teacher  and  friend, 
and  for  several  days  could  relish  neither 
his  Talmud  nor  his  contraband  Geometry. 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  11 

He  grew  restless.  His  soul  was  languishing 
with  thirst. 

"  Guess  where  I  have  been,"  he  confiden 
tially  said  to  Flora,  coming  from  the  street 
one  afternoon.  He  spoke  in  Yiddish,  and 
she  answered  in  English,  interspersed  with 
the  same  dialect. 

"  Not  in  the  synagogue,  studying  ? "  she 
queried. 

"No  —  at  the  Astor  Library,"  he  whis 
pered.  "  They  have  such  a  lot  of  books 
there,  Flora  !  Upstairs  and  downstairs  — 
large  rooms  like  rich  synagogues,  with 
shelves  all  over  the  walls,  and  all  full  of 
books.  Have  you  ever  been  there,  Flora  ?  " 

"  N-no ! "  she  owned,  with  reluctance.  The 
"  holy  soul "  was  clearly  forging  ahead  of 
her  in  a  world  which  she  considered  all  her 
own  ;  and  she  hated  the  idea  of  it,  and  liked 
it  at  the  same  time.  "  What  did  you 
there  ?  " 

"  Iv  just  looked  at  the  books  —  oh,  what  a 
lot!  —  and  then  I  found  out  how  to  get  a 
Geometry,  —  they  have  everything  in  the 
world,  I  tell  you,  —  and  I  did  some  problems. 
Don't  tell  your  father  I  was  there." 

"  Of  course  I  won't,"  she  said  intimately. 
"  Can  ladies  come  in  ?  " 


78  THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

44  Certainly ;  they  have  a  separate  place 
for  them,  though ;  will  you  go  there  with 
me?" 

"  Some  day,"  she  rejoined  evasively. 
44  Will  you  ?  Oh,  it 's  so  nice  to  be  sitting 
and  reading  there !  Only  you  must  sit  still. 
I  forgot  myself,  and  as  I  was  figuring  out 
some  nice  point,  I  began  to  reason  aloud,  so 
a  fine  old  gentleman  stepped  up  to  my  side 
and  touched  me  on  the  shoulder.  Oh,  I  got 
so  scared,  Flora  !  But  he  did  not  do  me  any 
thing —  may  I  be  ill  if  he  did.  He  only 
told  me  to  be  quiet." 

Flora  burst  out  laughing. 
"  I  '11  bet  you,  you  was  singing   in   that 
funny  way  you  have  when  you  are  studying 
the  Talmud." 

44  Yes,"  he  admitted  joyfully. 
44  And  working  your  hands  and  shaking 
the     life    out    of    yourself,"    she    pursued, 
mimicking  his  gestures. 

44  No,  I  was  not  —  may  I  not  live  till  to 
morrow  if  I  was,"  he  protested  vehemently, 
with  a  touch  of  resentment.  44  Oh,  it  is  so 
nice  to  be  there  !  I  never  knew  there  were 
so  many  Gentile  books  in  the  world  at  all. 
I  wonder  what  they  are  all  about.  Only 
I  am  so  troubled  about  my  English."  He 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  79 

interrupted  himself,  with  a  distressed  air. 
"  When  I  asked  them  for  the  book,  and  how 
to  get  it,  they  could  not  understand  me." 

"/  can  understand  everything  you  say 
when  you  speak  English.  You  're  all  right," 
she  comforted  him.  His  troubled,  childlike 
smile  and  his  shining  clear  blue  eyes,  as  he 
spoke,  went  to  her  heart. 

^•You  can,  but  other  people  can't.  I  so 
wish  I  could  speak  it  like  you,  Flora.  Do 
read  a  page  or  two  with  me,  will  you  ?  I  '11 
get  my  Reader —  shall  I  ?  " 

"  What 's  your  hurry  ?   Can't  you  wait  ?  " 

He  could  not  wait.  He  was  in  a  fever  of 
impatience  to  inhale  the  whole  of  the  Gentile 
language— definitions,  spelling,  pronuncia 
tion,  and  all  —  with  one  desperate  effort.  It 
was  the  one  great  impediment  that  seemed 
to  stand  between  him  and  the  enchanted  new 
world  that  had  revealed  itself  to  him. 

"Oh,  do  hear  me  read  —  may  you  live 
long,  Flora  I  It  somehow  draws  mo  as  with 
a  kind  of  impure  force.  Will  you  ?  " 

"  All  right,"  she  yielded,  with  kindly  curi- 
osity  at  the  fervor  of  his  request,  and  feeling 
flattered. 

Ho  had  been  reading  perhaps  a  quarter  of 
an  hour  when  ho  grow  absent-minded. 


80  THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

"You  must  have  skipped  a  line  again," 
she  said,  in  an  awkward  undertone. 

"Oh,  yes!'* 

They  were  seated  at  a  respectful  distance, 
with  the  corner  of  the  marble  table  between 
them,  her  full,  well-modeled  bust  erect  and 
stately  against  the  pier-glass.  She  wore  a 
waist  of  dark-blue  silk,  trimmed  with  red, 
and  there  was  a  red  ribbon  in  her  shock 
of  inky  hair.  Presently  she  leaned  forward 
to  see  a  mispronounced  word  for  herself. 
Their  heads  found  themselves  close  together. 
Her  ivory  cheek  almost  touched  his. 

"  Where  is  it  ? "  she  questioned,  under 
her  breath. 

He  made  no  reply.  Plis  glance  was  riveted 
to  her  raven  eyelashes.  A  dash  of  scarlet 
lurking  under  her  chin  dazed  his  brain. 
After  a  slight  pause  he  said,  as  he  timidly 
stroked  her  burning  cheek  :  — 
"  It  is  so  smooth  !  " 

She  hud  an  impulse  to  withdraw  her  face, 
but  felt  benumbed.  He  went  on  patting 
her,  until,  meeting  with  no  resistance,  his 
lips  touched  her  cheek,  in  a  gingerly  kiss. 
Both  lowered  their  eyes.  They  were  silent, 
but  their  hearts,  eacL  conscious  of  the  other's 
beatings,  throbbed  wildly. 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  81 

"  Bad  boy !  "  she  then  whispered,  without 
raising  her  head. 

After  another  silence,  as  their  eyes  met, 
they  burst  into  a  subdued,  nervous  titter. 

"  You  must  not  do  that  again,"  she  said. 
"  Is  this  the  kind  of  pious  man  you  are  ?  " 

"  Don't  say  that,  Flora  —  pray  don't.  You 
know  it  hurts  my  feelings  when  you  speak 
like  that,"  he  implored  her.  And  impelled 
by  the  embarrassed,  affectionate  sadness  of 
her  mien,  he  seized  her  hand  and  fell  to 
kissing  first  her  fingers  and  then  her  eyes, 
as  though  beseeching  them  to  reveal  the 
meaning  of  their  sombre  look.  Their  lips 
met  and  clung  together  in  a  trance  of  pas 
sion.  When  they  parted  Shay  a  felt  ten 
years  older,  and  as  his  eye  fell  upon  the 
bookcase,  he  wondered  what  those  glittering, 
massive  tomes  were  doing  there. 

"  Will  you  tell  your  father  that  you  want 
to  be  my  sweetheart  ? "  he  asked  after 
a  while. 

His  voice  and  his  features  appeared  to  her 
in  a  novel  aspect. 

"  How  do  you  know  I  do  ?  "  she  said,  with 
playful  defiance,  hiding  a  burst  of  admi 
ration  which  was  lost  upon  the  unworldly 
young  man. 


82  THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

—  don't  you  ?  "  he  demanded  solici 


tously. 

Then,  a  sudden  light  of  inspiration  coming 
in  her  eyes,  Flora  said,  — 

"  Hoi'  on  !  How  would  you  like  to  be  a 
doctor,  Shayie  ?  "  . 

"  But  your  father  would  turn  me  out  if  I 
began  to  study  for  it." 

She  grew  thoughtful.  "  But  suppose  he 
had  no  objection?"  she  queried,  her  bash- 
fulness  suddenly  returning  to  her  face. 

"  Oh,  then  I  should  be  dying  to  study 
doctor  books  —  any  kind  of  Gentile  books 
you  wanted  me  to,  Flora.  But  Reb  Asriel 
won't  let  me." 

"  Listen  !  Can  you  keep  a  secret  ?  "  she 
asked  like  a  conspiring  little  schoolgirl. 

"  You  mean  about  your  being  my  sweet 
heart?" 

"  No  !  "  she  rejoined  impatiently.  "  I 
mean  the  other  thing  —  your  studyin'.  Papa 
need  n't  get  wind  of  it  till  it  's  too  late  —  you 
understand  ?  If  you  are  smart,  we  can  fix 
that." 

"  That  's  all  right.     I  am  awful  clever  at 
keeping  a  secret,"  he  boasted. 
'    "  Well,  I  want  you  to  be  a  doctor,  Shayie,'* 
she  resumed,  with  matronly  tenderness.  "  If 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  83 

you  are,  I  '11  care  for  you,  and  you  '11  be  my 
birdie  boy,  an'  all ;  if  not,  you  won't.  Oh, 
won't  it  be  lovely  when  everybody  knows 
that  you  go  to  college  and  study  together 
with  nice,  educated  up-town  fellows!  We 
would  go  to  theatres  together  and  read  dif 
ferent  books.  You'll  make  a  daisy  of  a 
college  boy,  too  —  you  bet.  Would  you  like 
to  wear  a  high  hat,  and  spec's,  and  ride  in  a 
buggy,  with  a  little  nigger  for  a  driver  ?  — 
would  you,  would  you,  bad  boy,  you  ?  Hello, 
Doctor  Golub  !  How  are  you  ?  " 

She  presented  her  lips,  and  they  kissed 
again  and  again. 

"  You  know  what,  Shayie  ?  When  papa 
comes  I'll  go  out  somewheres,  so  you  can 
tell  him  —  you  know  what  I  mean.  It  '11 
make  it  so  much  easier  to  fool  him.  Will 
you  tell  him  ?  " 

"  I  am  ashamed." 

"/won't  tell  him." 

"  Don't  be  angry  —  I  will.  I  shall  always 
do  everything  you  tell  me,  Flora,"  he  said, 
looking  into  her  black  gleaming  eyes,  — 
"  always,  always  I  "  And  in  the  exuberance 
of  his  delight  he  once  again  felt  himself  a 
little  boy,  and  broke  out  into  a  masterly  imi 
tation  of  the  crow  of  a  cock,  jumping  up  and 
flapping  his  arms  for  a  pair  of  wings. 


84  THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

When  Asriel  and  Shaya  were  alone  in 
the  parlor,  the  young  man  said,  as  he  fell  to 
wringing  his  index  finger,  — 

"  Flora  wants  me  to  tell  you  that  she  is 
satisfied." 

"  Satisfied  with  what  ?  "  the  old  man  de 
manded,  leaping  to  his  feet. 

"  To  be  my  sweetheart.'* 

"  Is  she  ?  Did  she  say  so  ?  When  ?  — 
Tamara!  "  he  yelled,  rushing  downstairs  and 
dragging  the  prodigy  along,  —  "  Tamara  ! 
May  you  live  long !  The  Uppermost  has 
taken  pity  upon  me  after  all.  Floraly 1  has 
come  around  —  blessed  be  the  Uppermost." 

"  Blessed  be  the  Uppermost !  "  Tamara 
echoed,  her  pleasant,  swarthy  face  beaming 
with  heartfelt  delight.  "  When  He  wills, 
walls  of  iron  must  give  way.  It  is  a  divine 
match  —  any  one  can  see  it  is.  May  they 
live  a  hundred  and  twenty  years  together. 
Mazol-tov ! "  2 

"  Mazol-tov  to  you  and  to  all  of  us," 
Asriel  responded.  "But  where  is  Flora? 
Fetch  some  drink,  Tamara." 

lie  stepped  up  to  the  "  Wonder-worker 
box,"  and  deposited  a  silver  coin  for  the 
support  of  the  pilgrims  at  Palestine,  saying 
as  he  did  so :  — 

1  Affectionate  diminutive.  a  Good  luck. 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  85 

"  I  thank  and  praise  thee,  O  Lord  of  the 
Universe,  for  thy  mercy  toward  me.  May- 
est  Thou  grant  the  children  long  years,  and 
keep  up  in  Shaya  his  love  for  thy  sacred 
Law.  You  know  the  match  is  all  of  your 
own  making,  and  you  must  take  care  of  it. 
I  am  only  your  slave,  that 's  all." 

IX 

"  Is  Shayaly  in  ? "  inquired  old  Asriel 
on  entering  Flora's  room  one  morning  in 
midsummer.  It  was  four  months  after  his 
daughter's  betrothment  to  the  Talmudist 
had  been  celebrated  by  a  solemn  ceremony 
and  a  sumptuous  feast,  the  wedding  having 
been  set  for  a  later  date.  The  crowning 

O 

glory  of  his  achievement  Stroon  postponed, 
like  a  rare  bottle  of  wine,  for  some  future 
day.  He  dreaded  to  indulge  himself  in 
such  a  rapid  succession  of  This  World  joys 
lest  he  might  draw  upon  his  Share  in  the 
World-to-come.  Will  the  Uppermost  let 
him  live  to  see  his  daughter  and  the  "  holy 
child,"  standing  side  by  side  under  the  Can 
opy  ?  Asriel  was  now  confident  that  He 
would.  "  Is  Shayaly  in  ?  " 

"  Of  course  he  is  —  papa,"  Flora  answered, 
raising  her  face  from  her  book.  Her  "  papa  " 


86  THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

was  added  aloud,  and  as  if  upon  after 
thought. 

The  parlor  door  stood  ajar.  Asriel  sta 
tioned  himself  near  by  and  listened  to  the 
young  man's  habitual  sing-song.  The  old 
man's  face  gradually  became  radiant  with 
bliss. 

"My  crown,  my  Messiah,  my  Kaddish! 
My  Share  in  the  World-to-come ! "  he  mut 
tered. 

44  Did  you  have  breakfast,  papa  ?  "  Flora 
demanded,  speaking  still  louder  than  before. 

At  this  moment  Shaya's  sing-song  broke 
out  with  fresh  enthusiasm  and  his  Hebrew 
words  became  distinct.  Asriel  waved  her 
away  fiercely.  After  a  little  he  remarked 
in  a  subdued  voice,  as  he  pointed  to  the 
front  parlor,  — 

"  This  is  my  breakfast.  This  is  for  the 
soul,  my  child ;  the  worms  of  the  grave  can 
not  touch  it,  and  you  take  it  along  to  the 
other  world.  Everything  else  is  a  lot  of 
rubbish." 

He  made  to  leave,  but  could  not  help 
pausing,  in  fresh  admiration,  and  then, 
softly  opening  the  parlor  door  he  entered 
the  sanctum,  on  tiptoe,  in  order  to  feast 
his  eye  as  well  as  his  ear  on  the  thrilling 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM          87 

scene.  He  found  Shaya  rapturously  swaying 
and  singing  over  a  Talmud  volume.  Flora 
watched  her  father  with  roguish  delight. 

"  I  am  afraid  I  must  not  be  gloating  over 
him  like  this,"  Asriel  rebuked  himself  in  his 
heart.  "  I  may  give  him  the  evil  eye." 
When  he  regained  the  back  parlor  he  said, 
under  his  breath  :  "  Floraly,  I  am  afraid 
your  company  may  disturb  him  sometimes. 
A  pretty  sweetheart  is  apt  to  stir  a  fellow's 
brains,  you  know,  and  take  him  away  from 
the  Law.  He  had  better  study  more  at  the 
synagogues." 

The  girl  blushed  to  her  charcoal  hair  and 
dropped  her  glance.  But  her  father  had 
scarcely  gained  his  room,  on  the  floor  above, 
when  she  flew  into  the  front  parlor  with  a 
ringing  giggle. 

"  Now  you  can  go  right  on,  dearie,"  she 
said,  encircling  Shaya's  neck  with  one  arm, 
and  producing  with  the  other  an  English 
textbook  on  Natural  Philosophy,  which  had 
lain  open  under  the  huge  Hebrew  volume. 

*'  You  heard  me  holler,  did  n't  you  ?  " 

"  Of  course  I  did,"  Shaya  answered  beam 
ingly.  "  He  interrupted  me  in  the  middle 
of  such  a  cunning  explanation  I  " 

"Did  he?  What  was  it  about?  All 
about  sounds  —  the  same  as  before  ?  " 


88     THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

"Yes,  but  it  is  even  more  brainy  than 
what  I  told  you." 

He  proceeded  to  expound,  in  Yiddish, 
what  he  had  been  reading  on  Acoustics,  she 
listening  to  his  enthusiastic  popularization 
with  docile,  loving  inattention. 

The  young  man  made  a  pretense  of  spend 
ing  his  afternoons,  and  sometimes  also  morn 
ings,  at  the  various  synagogues  of  the 
Jewish  quarter.  His  proud  guardian  en 
couraged  this  habit,  in  order  that  his 
"  daughter's  bridegroom "  might  dissemi 
nate  his  sacred  knowledge  among  other  con 
gregations  than  his  own.  "Your  learning 
is  the  gift  of  God,  Shayaly,"  he  would  say, 
"  and  you  need  n't  be  ashamed  to  peddle  it 
varound.  Keb  Lippc  said  America  wanted 
a  man  like  you  to  spread  the  holy  Law  here. 
Go  and  do  it,  my  son,  and  the  Uppermost 
will  help  us  all  for  your  sake." 

.  The  prodigy  and  his  importer  were  the 
talk  of  the  orthodox  colony,  and  nothing 
was  more  pleasing  to  Asriel  than  to  hear 
the'  praises  of  his  daughter's  fiance  sounded 
by  the  Talmudists.  There  came  a  time,  how 
ever,  when,  in  his  own  synagogue,  at  least, 
these  encomiums  ceased.  Asriel  missed 


THE    IMPORTED    BRIDEGROOM  89 

them  keenly  and  pestered  the  learned  men 
of  the  congregation  with  incessant  talks 
about  Shaya,  for  the  purpose  of  worry 
ing  out  some  acknowledgment  of  his  phe 
nomenal  talents.  But  the  concession  was 
mostly  made  in  a  half-hearted  way,  and 
poor  Asriel  would  be  left  hungrier  than 
ever.  Particularly  was  his  heart  longing 
for  the  warm  eulogies  of  Reb  Tzalel,  a  poor, 
sickly  old  peddler,  who  was  considered  one 
of  the  most  pious  and  learned  men  in  the 
neighborhood.  Asriel  liked  the  man  for 
his  nervous  sincerity  and  uncompromising 
self-respect.  lie  often  asked  him  to  his 
house,  but  the  tattered,  underfed  peddler 
invariably  declined  the  invitation. 

"What  will  I  do  there,  Reb  Asriel?"  he 
would  say,  with  the  pained  sort  of  smile 
which  would  light  up  his  ghastly  old  face 
whenever  he  spoke.  "  Look  at  your  costly 
carpet  and  furniture,  and  bear  in  mind  that 
you  are  a  landlord  and  I  a  poor  peddler! 
At  the  synagogue  I  like  you  better,  for  here 
we  are  equals.  Saith  the  verse  in  the  Book 
of  Job  :  '  Whereas  lie  is  one  that  shows  no 
favor  to  chieftains,  and  distinguishes  not 
the  rich  before  the  indigent,  for  all  of  them 
are  the  work  of  his  hands/  "  Reb  Tzalel 


90  THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

translated  the  verse  into  Yiddish  for  the 
benefit  of  his  listener,  whereupon  Asriel  felt 
a  much  wealthier  man  than  he  was,  and  at 
the  same  time  he  had  a  sense  of  humiliation, 
as  though  his  money  were  something  to  be 
ashamed  of. 

This  man's  unusual  reticence  on  the  point 
of  Shaya's  merits  chagrined  Asriel  sorely, 
and  his  iniiid  even  began  to  be  troubled  by 
some  vague  misgivings  on  that  score. 

One  evening  Asriel  sat  by  Reb  Tzalel's 
side  in  the  study  rooms  of  his  synagogue. 
It  was  in  the  latter  part  of  November,  and 
Shaya's  wedding  was  to  take  place  during 
the  Feast  of  Hanuccah,  some  few  weeks 
later.  The  evening  services,  which  on  week 
days  were  held  in  these  rooms,  were  over, 
and  the  u  learners  "  could  now  give  them 
selves  to  their  divine  studies  undisturbed, 
save  for  the  possible  and  unwelcome  advent 
of  some  belated  Ten  Worshipers.  The  two 
spacious,  dingy  rooms,  their  connecting  doors 
wide  open,  were  dimly  lighted  with  candles 
placed  upon  the  plain  long  deal  tables  ranged 
against  their  discolored  walls.  The  open 
bookcases  were  filled  with  dilapidated  old 
volumes,  many  more  being  in  use  or  strewn 
about,  in  chaotic  heaps,  on  the  tables, 
benches,  or  window-sills. 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  91 

In  one  room,  around  one  of  the  long 
tables,  were  gathered  the  members  of  the 
daily  Mislmah  class.  There  were  about  a 
dozen  of  them,  mostly  poor  peddlers  or 
artisans,  —  a  humble,  seedy,  pitiable  lot, 
come  after  a  hard  day's  work  or  freezing, 
to  "  take  a  holy  word  into  their  mouths." 
Hardly  one  of  these  was  up  to  the  Gemarah 
part  of  the  Talmud,  and  even  the  Mislmah 
only  few  could  brave  single-handed.  They 
sat  at  their  open  books  following  their  vol 
untary  teacher,  a  large,  heavy,  middle-aged 
man,  —  a  mass  of  unkempt  beard,  flesh,  and 
rags,  ablaze  with  the  intellectual  fury  of 
his  enormous  black  eyes.  He  was  reading 
aloud,  with  ferocious  appetite,  swaying  and 
jerking  his  disheveled  bulk,  as  he  ever  and 
anon  tossed  up  his  head  to  interpret  the 
Mishna  to  his  pupils,  and  every  little  while 
breaking  off  in  the  middle  of  a  sentence,  or 
even  a  word,  to  let  his  class  shout  the  other 
half  as  a  guaranty  of  proficiency.  Some  of 
his  listeners  plodded  along  the  lines  of  their 
books,  in  humble  silence,  with  their  index 
fingers  for  fescues  ;  the  brighter  ones  boldly 
interrupted  the  ponderous  man,  joyously 
anticipating  his  explanations  or  pointing 
out  some  discrepancy  ;  one  old  dissembler 


92  THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

repeated  unintelligible  half-sentences  with 
well-acted  gusto;  another  little  old  fellow 
betrayed  the  fog  in  his  mind  by  timid  nods 
of  assent,  while  still  another  was  bravely 
kept  from  dozing  off  on  his  holy  book  by 
frequent  neighborly  nudges  from  the  man 
next  him.  Standing  behind  the  members 
of  the  class  were  some  envying  "  boors," 
like  our  poor  Asriel,  to  whom  even  the 
Mishnah  was  a  luxury  beyond  their  intel 
lectual  means. 

One  of  the  long  tables  in  the  adjoining 
room  was  covered  with  the  open  folios  of  the 
daily  Gemarah  class,  —  some  fifteen  men  of 
all  ages  and  economical  conditions  from  the 
doddering  apple-vender,  to  whom  the  holy 
books  are  the  only  source  of  pleasure  in  this 
life  as  well  as  in  the  other,  to  the  well-fed, 
overdressed  young  furniture  -  dealer,  with 
whom  the  Talmud  is  a  second  nature,  con 
tracted  in  the  darker  days  of  his  existence 
in  Russia.  There  were  several  "  keen 
brains  "  in  the  group,  and  a  former  "  pro 
digy  "  or  two,  like  Shaya.  The  class  needed 
no  guide,  but  one  old  man  with  a  boyish 
face  framed  in  snow-white  hair,  and  wearing 
a  sea  of  unstarched  linen  collar  about  his 
emaciated  neck,  was  their  chosen  reader. 


THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM     93 

lie  also  left  many  sentences  unuttered,  but. 
he  did  it  merely  because  he  thought  them 
too  well-known  to  need  repetition.  When 
ever  he  had  something  to  add  to  the  text,  he 
would  address  himself  to  the  man  by  his 
side,  snapping  his  fingers  at  him  genially, 
and  at  times  all  but  pinching  him  for  ecstasy. 
The  others  participated  now  by  a  twirl  of  a 
finger,  now  by  the  swift  repetition  of  a  whole 
syllogism,  now  by  an  indescribable  system 
of  gestures,  enacting,  in  dumb  show,  the 
whole  logical  process  involved  in  a  nice 
point.  All  at  once  the  whole  class  would 
burst  into  a  bedlam  of  voices  and  gesticula 
tions.  When  the  whirlwind  of  enthusiasm 
subsided,  it  might  be  followed  by  a  bit  of 
pleasantry,  —  from  the  exuberance  of  good 
spirits  at  having  got  the  better  of  a  difficult 
point,  —  and,  upon  the  whole  the  motley 
company  looked  like  a  happy  family  at  the 
Sabbath  table. 

The  other  long  tables  in  both  rooms  were 
occupied  by  lomdim  (learned  men),  each  in 
tent  upon  the  good  deed  of  studying  "for 
study's  sake  "  by  himself :  some  humming  to 
their  musty  folios  melodiously  ;  others  smil 
ing  and  murmuring  to  them,  like  a  fond 
mother  to  her  babe ;  still  others  wailing  or 


94  THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

grumbling  or  expostulating  with  their  books, 
or  slapping  them  and  yelling  for  delight,  or 
roaring  like  a  lion  in  a  cage.  A  patriarch 
teaching  his  ten-year-old  grandson  and  both 
shouting  at  the  top  of  their  voices,  in  an  en 
tanglement  of  pantomime;  a  swarthy  little 
grammar-school  boy  going  it  on  his  own 
hook  over  a  volume  bigger  than  himself ; 
a  "  fine  householder "  in  reduced  circum 
stances  dignifiedly  swinging  his  form  and 
twirling  his  side-lock  as  if  he  were  confiding 
a  secret  to  his  immense  golden  beard  ;  one  or 
two  of  the  hollow-voiced  prooshim,  who  had 
come  to  America  in  search  of  fortune,  but 
who  were  now  supported  by  the  congrega 
tion  for  giving  all  their  time  to  "the  law 
and  the  service  ; "  a  knot  of  men  enjjajred 

o     O 

in  a  mixed  discussion  of  "  words  of  law  " 
and  "  words  of  every-day  life  "  —  all  these 
voices  and  murmurs  mingled  in  one  effer 
vescence  of  the  sublime  and  the  ridiculous, 
with  tragedy  for  a  keynote,  —  twenty  cen 
turies  thrown  pell-mell  in  a  chaos  of  sound 
and  motion. 

Asriel  could  have  lived  on  the  spectacle, 
and  although  unable  to  participate  in  it  him 
self,  he  now,  since  the  advent  of  the  pro 
digy,  looked  upon  it  as  a  world  in  which  he 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM  95 

was  not  without  a  voice.  lie  was  seated  in 
a  remote  corner  of  the  Gemarah  room, 
now  watching  the  noisy  scenes  with  open- 
mouthed  reverence,  now  turning  to  admire 
Keb  Tzalel  by  his  side.  The  cadaverous  face 
and  burning  eyes  of  the  peddler  were  sneer 
ing  at  the  drab-colored  page  before  him; 
while  his  voice  sounded  melancholy,  like  a 
subdued  bugle  call. 

Presently  Reb  Tzalel  paused,  and  the  two 
engaged  in  converse.  As  Asriel  was  boast 
ing  of  Shaya's  genius  and  kindliness  of 
disposition,  vainly  courting  his  friend  for 
a  word  of  assent,  the  peddler,  suddenly  red 
dening  in  the  face,  interrupted  him  :  — 

"  What's  the  use  of  playing  cat  and  rat, 
Mr.  Stroon  ?  "  he  burst  out  with  his  ghastly 
smile.  "  I  may  as  well  tell  you  what  lies 
like  a  heavy  stone  on  my  heart.  Your 
Shay  a  is  going  to  the  bad.  lie  is  an  appi- 
koros."  l 

"  An  appikoros !  "  Asriel  demanded,  as 
if  the  word  had  suddenly  acquired  a  new 
meaning. 

"  Yes,  an  appikoros,  and  a  Jeroboam  the 
son  of  Nebat  —  he  sins,  and  leads  others 
to  sin,"  the  Talmudist  declared  tartly.  "  I 
1  Epicurean;  atheist. 


96     THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

hated  to  cause  you  the  pain,  Mr.  Stroon, 
but  he  has  gone  too  far  in  Gentile  books, 
and  when  he  is  here  and  you  are  not  about 
he  talks  to  everybody  he  can  get  hold  of 
concerning  the  way  the  world  swings  around 
the  sun,  how  rain  and  thunder,  day  and 
night  —  everything  —  can  be  explained  as  a 
matter  of  common  sense,  and  that  there  is 
no  God  in  heaven,  and  all  that  sort  of  vile 
stuff  that  you  hear  from  every  appikoros  — 
may  they  all  be  hurled  from  one  end  of  the 
world  to  the  other !  Everything  can_be  ex 
plained  —  may  the  Angel -of1*  Death  explain 
it  to  them,  may  they  " — 

"  Hold  on,  Reb  Tzalel !  "  Asriel  shouted : 
"  You  need  not  curse  him :  you  don't  feed 
him,  do  you  ?  And  what  you  say  is  a  lie  !  — 
as  big  a  lie  as  Og  the  King  of  Bashan !  " 
he  concluded  with  calm  ferocity,  raising  his 
burly  figure  from  the  bench. 

"  A  lie,  is  it  ?  Very  well,  then  —  you 
shall  know  all.  Little  Mendele  saw  your 
imported  decoration  smoking  a  cigarette 
last  Sabbath." 

"  Shaya  smoke  on  the  Sabbath!"  Asriel 
echoed.  The  practical,  concrete  nature  of 
this  sin  came  home  to  him  with  a  more 
forceful  blow  than  all  the  peddler  had 


Tin:    IMPORTED  UKIDEUIWOM  07 

said  about  Shaya'fl  ungodly  theories.  **  Be- 
gonc ! "  tho  surrounding  clwos  seemed  to 
say  to  tho  4*  boor."  *'  From  now  on  you 
have  nothing  to  do  hero  I  " 

"  Sliaya  Hiiioku  a  cigarette  on  tho  Sab- 
bath  !  "  he  repeated.  "  Well,  and  I  have 
this  to  Hay,  that  Mendcle,  and  yourself,  and 
the  whole  lot  of  you  aro  nothing  but  a  set  of 
first-class  liars  and  begrudging  gossip-mon- 
gers,  It  must  give  him  a  belly-ache  to  think 
that  ho  could  not  afford  such  a  bridegroom 
for  his  girl  and  that  I  could.  Well,  1  have 
got  a  prodigy  for  my  daughter  and  he  has 
licked  the  whole  lot  of  you  learned  fellows 
to  ground  coffee.  I  have  got  him,  —  see  ? 
—  and  let  all  my  enemies  and  the  boy's 
enemies  burst  for  envy."  Ho  clicked  his 
tongue  and  snapped  his  fingers,  and  for  a 
moment  stood  glaring  witheringly  at  his  in 
terlocutor. 

"  Well,  I  am  not  going  to  argue  with  a 
boor,"  said  Reb  Tzalel,  in  utter  disgust. 

Hin  words  wero  drowned  in  tho  noise,  but 
the  u  boor"  reached  Asriel's  ear  and  touched 
him  on  the  raw.  "  Shut  up,  Keb  Tzalel  !  " 
he  said,  paling. 

"Why  should  I?  This  is  not  your 
house.  It  is  God's  dwelling.  Here  I  am 


98  THE   IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

richer  than  you.  I  only  wanted  to  say  that 
it  is  not  you  I  pity.  You  have  been  a  boor, 
and  that  *s  what  you  are  and  will  be.  But 
the  boy  was  about  to  become  a  great  man  in 
Israel,  and  you  have  brought  him  over  here 
for  bedeviled  America  to  turn  him  into  an 
appikoros.  Woe  !  woe  !  woe  !  " 

"  Keep  still,  Reb  Tzalel ;  take  pity,"  As- 
riel  implored,  in  a  squeaking  voice.  "  Don't 
spill  any  salt  over  my  wounds.  Forgive  me, 
—  you  know  I  am  a  boor.  Do  take  pity 
and  say  no  more ;  but  all  you  have  said  — 
they  have  said  —  is  a  lie  —  the  cholera 
choke  me  if  it  is  not."  And  gasping  for 
breath,  he  ran  out  of  the  synagogue. 

When  he  found  himself  in  the  street  he 
was  conscious  of  some  terrific  blow  having 
just  been  dealt  him,  but  did  not  clearly  real 
ize  its  full  meaning ;  and  what  had  trans 
pired  a  minute  before,  between  him  and  Reb 
Tzalel,  seemed  to  have  occurred  in  the  re 
mote  past.  The  clamor  of  the  street  ped 
dlers,  and  the  whole  maze  of  squalor  and 
noise  through  which  he  was  now  scurrying, 
he  appeared  to  hear  and  to  view  at  a  great 
distance,  as  if  it  all  were  on  the  other  side 
of  a  broad  river,  he  hurrying  on  his  lonely 
way  along  the  deserted  bank  opposite. 


THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM     99 

"  An  appikoros !  an  appikoros !  "  he  said 
to  himself,  vainly  trying  to  grasp  the  mean 
ing  of  the  word  which  he  knew  but  too  well. 
*'  An  appikoros,  smoking  on  the  Sabbath !  " 
The  spectacle  smote  him  in  cold  blood. 
"  Sha^a  smoke  on  the  holy  Sabbath  !  It 's 
a  lie!" 

He  started  in  the  direction  of  Mendele's 
residence,  bent  upon  thrashing  the  red-haired 
talebearer  to  death.  Soon,  however,  he 
halted  and  turned  homeward.  The  courage 
failed  Asriel  Stroon  to  face  the  man  who 
had  seen  his  daughter's  fiance  smoke  a 
cigarette  on  a  Saturday.  Then  Shaya  ap 
peared  to  his  mind  as  something  polluted, 
sacrilegious,  and  although  this  something 
had  nothing  in  common  with  his  beloved 
prodigy,  save  the  name,  and  the  young  man 
whitened  in  the  distance,  pure  and  lovely  as 
ever,  Asriel's  rage  surged  in  the  direction  of 
his  home,  and  he  mended  pace  to  storm  the 
house  as  soon  as  he  could  get  there. 

When  he  collected  his  wits  he  decided  to 
wait  till  he  found  out  everything  for  him 
self.  For  the  first  time,  perhaps,  he  felt 
himself  a  coward.  He  quailed  before  the 
thought  that  what  he  had  heard  from  the 
learned  peddler  might  prove  true,  and  he 


100         THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

cringingly  begged  his  own  mind  to  put  off 
the  culminating  agony  of  believing  it. 

Nevertheless,  when  he  saw  Shaya,  at  the 
supper-table,  his  heart  whispered  to  him,  in 
dismay :  4'  An  appikoros !  "  and  the  unut- 
tered  word  enveloped  the  prodigy  in  %a  for 
bidding,  sinister  atmosphere. 

He  now  hated  Shaya ;  he  felt  as  though 
he  feared  him. 

"  Where  have  you  been  so  late,  papa  ? " 
Flora  inquired. 

"Deep  in  the  earth.  You  care  much 
where  your  papa  is,  do  you  ?  "  he  snarled. 

"Papa!"  she  said  deprecatingly ;  "are 
you  mad  ?  " 

He  made  no  response. 

"  Have  you  been  to  the  Mariv  service  ?  " 
Shaya  intervened.  "  I  studied  at  the  Sou- 
valk  Synagogue  to-day." 

Asriel  remained  grimly  uncommunicative. 

The  young  people,  reinforced  by  Tamara, 
made  several  other  attempts  at  conversation, 
but  the  dogged  taciturnity  of  the  head  of 
the  family  cast  a  spell  cf  misery  over  them 
all,  and  the  meal  passed  in  unsupportable 
silence. 

"  See  if  papa  ain't  getting  on  to  what  you 
are  doing,  Shayie,"  Flora  said,  when  the 
two  were  alone. 


THE    IMPORTED    BRIDEGROOM        101 

"  Pshaw !  is  it  the  first  time  you  see  him 
out  of  humor  ?  lie  must  have  had  some 
trouble  with  a  tenant  or  janitor." 

"  He  must  have,"  she  assented  gloomily. 
44  But  what  if  he  gets  wind  ?  I  'in  worrying 
the  life  out  of  myself  about  it." 

44  So  am  I.  I  love  your  father  just  the 
same  as  if  he  were  my  own  papa.  I  wish 
the  wedding  were  over,  don't  you  ? "  he 
asked  in  his  childish  way. 


On  the  following  morning  Asriel  repaired 
to  the  Souvalk  Synagogue  to  attend  the  ser 
vice  (his  usual  place  of  worship  he  had  not 
the  heart  to  visit),  and,  incidentally,  to  as 
certain  how  Shaya  had  spent  his  time  there 
the  day  before. 

To  his  consternation  he  learned  that  his 
"daughter's  bridegroom  "  had  not  been  seen 
there  for  weeks. 

Asriel  held  his  counsel,  and  took  to  shad 
owing  the  young  man. 

He  now  had  no  doubt  as  to  the  accuracy 
of  Keb  Tzalel's  story.  But  it  gave  him  no 
pain.  It  was  Shaya  no  longer  ;  it  was  not 
his  daughter's  bridegroom ;  it  was  not  the 
prodigy  he  had  imported,  —  it  was  an  appi- 


102    THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

koros.  But  then  Asriel's  heart  withered  at 
the  notion  of  being  the  victim  of  systematic 
deception.  Shaya  was  an  appikoros  and  a 
secret,  sneaking  enemy. 

r  "  That  youngster  trick  Asriel  Stroon !  " 
He  panted  with  hatred  and  thrilled  with  a 

!  detective-like  passion  to  catch  Shaya  in  the 
act  of  some  grave  violation  of  the  Mosaic 
Law. 

He  went  about  the  various  synagogues 
where  the  young  man  was  supposed  to  study 
the  Talmud,  with  a  keen  foretaste  of  his 
vicious  joy  at  finding  that  he  had  been  play 
ing  truant.  Yet  each  time  his  fervent  ex 
pectations  were  realized  he  would,  instead 
of  triumph,  experience  an  overpowering 
sense  of  defeat. 

44  You  have  been  cheated  out  of  your  boots 
by  a  stripling,  Asrielke  —  woe  to  your  foolish 
head !  "  he  tortured  himself,  reveling  in  an 
agony  of  fury.  44  Ah,  a  cholera  into  him ! 
I  '11  show  him  how  to  fool  Asriel  Stroon ! " 

He  discovered  that  Shaya' s  frequent  com 
panion  was  his  former  teacher  of  English, 
whom  he  often  visited  in  his  attic  room  on 
Clinton  Street,  and  he  impatiently  awaited 
the  next  Saturday  to  raid  the  atheistic  re 
sort  and  to  overtake  Shaya  smoking  or  writ- 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM        103 

ing  on  the  holy  day.     But  the  climax  came 
a  day  or  two  sooner. 

After  tracing  Shaya  to  the  Clinton  Street 
house  Asriel  stood  waiting  around  a  corner, 
at  a  vantage  point  from  which  he  could  see 
the  windows  of  the  two  garret  rooms  one 
of  which  was  the  supposed  scene  of  the 
young  man's  ungodly  pursuits.  He  had  no 
definite  purpose  in  view,  for  it  was  not  Sab 
bath,  and  he  would  not  spoil  his  game  by 
apprehending  his  man  in  the  mere  act  of 
reading  Gentile  books.  Yet  he  was  rooted 
to  the  place,  and  remained  aimlessly  waiting, 
with  his  eyes  riveted  to  the  windows  which 
they  could  not  penetrate.  Tired  at  last,  and 
overcome  with  a  sense  of  having  been  en 
gaged  in  a  fool's  errand,  he  returned  home, 
and,  reaching  his  bedroom,  sank  on  the  bed 
in  a  prostration  of  hurt  pride  and  impotent 
rage. 

On  the  following  morning  he  returned  to 
his  post.  The  attic  windows  drew  him  like 
the  evil  one,  as  he  put  it  to  himself. 

He  had  been  keeping  watch  for  some  min 
utes  when,  to  his  fierce  joy,  Shaya  and  his 
accomplice  sallied  forth  into  the  street.  He 
dogged  their  steps  to  Grand  Street,  and 
thence,  through  the  Bowery,  to  Lafayette 


104         THE   IMPORTED  BRIDEGSOOU 

Race,  where  they  disappeared  behind  the 
massive  doors  of  an  imposing  structure,  ap- 
parently  neither  a  dwelling-place  nor  an 
office  building. 

^  "  Dis  a  choych?  »  Asriel  asked  a  passer- 

"  A  church?    No,   it's  a  library  -the 
As  or  LArary,"  the  stranger  explained. 

Ah,  a  lot  of  Gentile  books  !  "  he  ex- 
claimed  to  himself,  disappointed  in  one  way 
and  triumphant  in  another.  The  unaccus- 
tomed  neighborhood  and  the  novelty  of  his 
impresses  increased  the  power  of  the  "  evil 


He  waited  because  the  "evil 

one     would  not  let  him  stir  from  the  spot. 
An  hour  passed-     Ifo  was  P 

with  hunger;   yet   he  never  moved.     "lie 

"gJir,1"11  WS  1Un<-"''  eithe"'"  '-  thought. 
b   11,  he  can  stand  it.     It  '.  the  witchcraft 

d  a     >      ;          °°kS  ~  may  he  ^  burned  *» 
leath  .  —  keeping  up  his  strength.     They  '11 

come  out  in  a  minute  or  two." 

Many  more  minutes  elapsed,  and  still  As- 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM        105 

riel  waited.  At  last  "  Here,  they  are,  the 
convert  Jews !  Look  at  them  —  how  jolly  ! 
It 's  the  Black  Year  shining  out  of  their 
faces  —  may  they  shine  on  their  death-beds  ! 
That  beggar  of  a  teacher  I  shall  have  ar 
rested." 

lie  followed  them  through  Fourth  Street 
back  to  the  Bowery  and  down  the  rumbling 
thoroughfare,  till  —  "  a  lamentation  !  "  — 
they  entered  a  Christian  restaurant ! 

A  terrific  pang  smote  Asriel's  heart.  It 
was  as  if  he  saw  his  temple,  the  embodiment 
of  many  years  of  labor,  the  object  of  his 
fondest  cares,  just  completed  and  ready  to 
be  dedicated,  suddenly  enveloped  in  flames. 
The  prodigy,  his  prodigy,  his  Kaddish,  his 
glory  in  this  and  the  other  world,  plunged 
into  the  very  thick  of  impurity ! 

He  made  to  rush  after  them,  but  checked 
himself  to  wait  till  the  treife 1  food  was 
served  them.  A  few  minutes  later  he  made 
his  entry,  cool  and  collected  as  a  regular 
custpmer. 

Each  of  the  two  young  men  was  bent  on  a 

veal  cutlet.     The  collegian  was  dispatching 

his  with  the  nonchalant  appetite  and  ease  of 

1  Unclean;  not  prepared  according  to  the  laws  of 

Moses. 


106    THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

manner  of  an  habitue*,  whereas  poor  Shaya 
looked  like  one  affecting  to  relish  his  first 
plate  of  raw  oysters.  The  smells  proceeding 
from  the  kitchen  made  him  dizzy,  and  the 
cutlet  itself,  partly  because  he  was  accus 
tomed  to  meat  of  a  better  quality,  but  mainly 
through  the  consciousness  of  eating  treife, 
inclined  him  to  nausea. 

Asriel  took  a  vacant  chair  at  the  same 
table. 

"  Bless  the  sitter,1  Shaya! "  he  said. 

The  two  young  men  were  petrified. 

"  How  is  the  pork  —  does  it  taste  well  ?  " 
Asriel  pursued. 

"  It  is  not  pork.  It  is  veal  cutlet,"  the 
teacher  found  tongue  to  retort. 

"  I  am  not  speaking  to  you,  am  I  ?  "  As 
riel  hissed  out.  Murder  was  swelling  in  his 
heart.  But  at  this  point  the  waiter  came 
up  to  his  side. 

"  Vot  '11  ye  have  ?  " 

"  Notink !  "  Asriel  replied,  suddenly  rising 
from  his  seat  and  rushing  out,  as  if  this  were 
the  most  terrible  sort  of  violence  he  could 
conceive. 

1  Form  of  greeting  when  the  host  b  found  at 
table. 


TUE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM        107 
XI 

Asriel  found  his  daughter  playing. 

44  Stop  that  or  I  '11  smash  your  Gentile 
piano  to  pieces  !  "  he  commanded  her,  feel 
ing  as  though  the  instrument  had  all  along 
been  in  the  conspiracy  and  were  now  bid 
ding  him  defiance. 

44  Why,  what's  the  matter?"  she  ques 
tioned,  getting  up  from  her  stool  in  stupe 
faction. 

44  Matter  ?  Bluff  a  dead  rooster,  not  me 
—  my  head  is  still  on  my  shoulders.  Here 
it  is,  you  see  ?  "  he  added,  taking  himself 
by  the  head.  4t  It 's  aU  up,  Flora." 

44  What  do  you  mean?  "  she  made  out  to 
inquire. 

44 1  mean  that  if  Shayke l  ever  enters  this 
house  I  '11  murder  both  of  you.  You  thought 
your  papa  was  a  fool,  did  n't  you  ?  Well, 
you  are  a  poor  hand  at  figuring,  Flora.  I 
knew  everything,  but  I  wanted  some  parti 
culars.  I  have  got  them  all  now  here,  in 
my  pocket,  and  a  minute  ago  I  took  the 
pleasure  of  bidding  him  4  bless  the  sitter '  in 
a  Gentile  restaurant  —  may  he  be  choked 
with  his  treife  gorge !  " 

1  Contemptuous  diminutive  of  Shaya. 


108        THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

"  You  've  got  no  business  to  curse  him 
like  that ! "  she  flamed  out,  coloring  vio 
lently. 

"  /  have  no  business  ?  And  who  is  to 
stop  me,  pray  ?  " 

"  /  am.  It  ain't  my  fault.  You  know  I 
did  not  care  at  first." 

The  implication  that  he  had  only  himself 
to  blame  threw  him  into  a  new  frenzy.  But 
he  restrained  himself,  and  said  with  ghastly 
deliberation :  — 

44  Flora,  you  are  not  going  to  many  him." 

44 1  am.  I  can't  live  without  him,"  she 
declared  with  quiet  emphasis. 

Asriel  left  her  room. 

44 It's  all  gone,  Tamara!  My  candle  is 
blown  out,"  he  said,  making  his  way  from 
the  dining-room  to  the  kitchen.  "  There  is 
no  Shaya  any  longer." 

44  A  weeping,  a  darkness  to  me !  lias  an 
accident  —  mercy  and  peace  !  — -befallen  the 
child?" 

44  Yes,  he  is  4  dead  and  buried,  and  gone 
from  the  market-place.'  Worse  than  that : 
a  convert  Jew  is  worse  than  a  dead  one. 
It 's  all  gone,  Tamara !  "  he  repeated  gravely. 
44 1  have  just  seen  him  eating  treife  in 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM        109 

a  Gentile  restaurant.     America  has  robbed 
me  of  my  glory." 

"  Woe  is  me  !  "  the  housekeeper  gasped, 
clutching  at  her  wig.  "  Treife !  Does  he  not 
get  enough  to  eat  here?"  She  then  burst 
out,  "  Don't  I  serve  him  the  best  food  there 
is  in  the  world  ?  Any  king  would  be  glad 
to  get  such  dinners." 

"Well,  it  seems  treife  tastes  better," 
Asriel  rejoined  bitterly. 

"  A  calamity  upon  my  sinful  head  !  We 
must  have  evil-eyed  the  child ;  we  have  de 
voured  him  with  our  admiring  looks." 

While  Asriel  was  answering  her  volley  of 
questions,  Flora  stealthily  left  the  house. 

When  Stroon  missed  her  he  hurried  off 
to  Clinton  Street.  There  he  learned  of  the 
landlady  that  her  lodger  had  left  a  short 
while  before,  in  the  company  of  his  friend 
and  a  young  lady  whom  the  two  young  men 
had  found  waiting  in  her  parlor.  In  his 
despair  Asriel  betook  himself  to  the  Astor 
Library,  to  some  of  Flora's  friends,  and  even 
to  the  Bowery  restaurant. 

When  he  reached  home,  exhausted  with 
fatigue  and  rage,  he  found  his  daughter  in 
her  room. 

"  Where  have  you  been?  "  he  demanded, 
sternly. 


110        THE  IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

"  I  '11  tell  you  where,  but  don't  aggravate 
yourself,  papaly,"  she  replied  in  beseeching, 
tearful  accents. 

"  Where  have  you  been  ?  " 

"  I  am  going  to  tell  you,  but  don't  blame 
Shaya.  He  is  awful  fond  of  you.  It 's  all 
my  fault.  He  didn't  want  to  go,  but  I 
could  n't  help  it,  papaly.  We  've  been  to 
the  city  court  and  got  married  by  a  judge. 
Shaya  did  n't  want  to." 

"  You  married  !  " 

"  Yes,  but  don't  be  angry,  papaly  darlin'. 
We  '11  do  everything  to  please  you.  If  you 
don't  want  him  to  be  a  doctor,  he  won't." 

"  A  doctor  !  "  he  resumed,  still  speaking 
like  one  in  a  daze.  "  Is  that  what  you  have 
been  up  to  ?  I  see  —  you  have  got  the  best 
of  me,  after  all.  You  married,  Flora  ?  "  he 
repeated,  unable  to  apply  the  meaning  of 
the  word  to  his  daughter.  "  In  court  — 
without  Canopy  and  Dedication  —  like  Gen 
tiles  ?  What  have  you  done,  Flora  ?  "  He 
sank  into  a  chair,  gnashing  his  teeth  and 
tearing  at  his  sidelocks. 

"Papaly,  papaly,  don't!"  she  sobbed, 
hugging  and  kissing  him.  "  You  know  I 
ain't  to  blame  for  it  all." 

It  dawned  upon  him  that  no  serious  wrong 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM        111 

had  been  committed,  after  all,  and  that  it 
could  all  be  mended  by  a  Jewish  marriage 
ceremony;  and  so  great  was  his  relief  at 
the  thought  that  it  took  away  all  his  anger, 
and  he  even  felt  as  if  he  were  grateful  to 
his  daughter  for  not  being  guilty  of  a  graver 
transgression  than  she  was. 

"  I  know  you  are  not  to  blame,"  he  said, 
tragic  in  his  calmness.  "  America  has  done 
it  all.  But  what  is  the  use  talking  I  It 's 
gone,  and  I  am  not  going  to  take  another 
sin  upon  my  soul.  I  won't  let  you  be  his 
wife  without  Canopy  and  Dedication.  Let 
the  Jewish  wedding  come  off  at  once  —  this 
week  —  to-morrow.  You  have  got  the  best 
of  me  and  I  don't  kick,  do  I?  It  seems 
God  does  not  want  Asrielke  the  boor  to 
have  some  joy  in  his  old  age,  nor  a  Kaddish 
for  his  soul,  when  the  worms  will  be  feasting 
upon  his  silly  bones  " — 

"Oh,  don't  say  that,  papa.  It'll  break 
my  heart  if  you  do.  You  know  Shaya  is  as 
good  as  a  son  to  you." 

"  An  appikoros  my  son  ?  An  appikoros 
my  Kaddish  ?  No,"  he  rejoined,  shaking  his 
head  pensively. 

As  he  said  it  he  felt  as  if  Flora,  too,  were 
a  stranger  to  him. 


112         TUE   IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

He  descended  to  the  basement  in  a  state 
of  mortal  indifference. 

u  I  have  lost  everything,  Tamara,"  he 
said.  "  I  have  no  daughter,  either.  I  am 
all  alone  in  the  world  —  alone  as  a  stone." 

He  had  no  sooner  closed  the  kitchen  door 
behind  him,  than  Flora  was  out  and  away 
to  Clinton  Street  to  surprise  her  bridegroom 
with  the  glad  news  of  her  father's  surrender. 

The  housekeeper  was  in  the  kitchen,  sew 
ing  upon  some  silk  vestments  for  the  scrolls 
of  her  synagogue.  Asriel  stood  by  her  side, 
leaning  against  the  cupboard  door,  in  front 
of  the  Palestine  box.  Speaking  in  a  bleak, 
resigned  undertone,  he  told  her  of  Flora's 
escapade  and  of  his  determination  to  make 
the  best  of  it  by  precipitating  the  Jewish 
ceremony.  A  gorgeous  celebration  was  now, 
of  course,  out  of  the  question.  The  pro 
posed  fete  which  was  to  have  been  the  talk 
of  the  synagogues  and  which  had  been  the 
centre  of  his  sweetest  dreams  had  suddenly 
turned  in  his  imagination  to  something  like  a 
funeral  feast.  Tamara  bade  him  be  of  good 
cheer,  and  cited  Rabbi  Nochum  And-This- 
Too,  who  would  hail  the  severest  blows  of 
fate  with  the  words  :  "  And  this,  too,  is  for 
the  best."  But  Asriel  would  not  be  com 
forted. 


THE    IMPORTED    BRIDEGROOM         113 

"  Yes,  Tamara,  it  is  gone,  all  gone,"  he 
murmured  forlornly.  "  It  was  all  a  dream, 
—  a  last  year's  lemon  pie.  It  has  flown 
away  and  you  can't  catch  it.  Gone,  and 
that's  all.  You  know  how  I  feel?  As  if 
some  fellow  had  played  a  joke  on  me." 

The  pious  woman  was  moved. 

"  But  it  is  a  sin  to  take  things  so  close  to 
heart,"  she  said  impetuously.  "  You  must 
take  care  of  your  health.  Bear  up  under 
your  affliction  like  a  righteous  Jew,  Keb 
Asriel.  Trust  to  the  Uppermost,  and  you 
will  live  to  rejoice  in  your  child  and  in  her 
children,  if  God  be  pleased." 

Asriol  heaved  a  sigh  and  fell  silent.  Ho 
stood  with  his  eyes  upon  the  pilgrim  box, 
listening  to  the  whisper  of  her  needle. 

"  You  know  what ;  let  us  go  to  the  Land 
of  Israel,"  ho  presently  said,  as  though  con 
tinuing  an  interrupted  sentence.  "They 
have  got  the  best  of  me.  I  cannot  change 
tho  world.  Lot  thorn  live  UH  they  plcaso 
and  be  responsible  to  the  Uppermost  for 
themselves.  I  don't  care  the  kernel  of  a 
hollow  nut.  I  shall  givo  Flora  half  my 
property  and  tho  rest  I  '11  sell.  You  aro  a 
righteous  woman,  Tamara.  Why  not  marry 
and  ond  our  days  serving  God  in  the  Holy 
Land  together?" 


I 


114          THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

Tamara  plied  her  needle  with  redoubled 
zeal.  He  could  see  only  her  glossy  black 
wig  and  the  flaming  dusk  of  her  cheek. 

"  We  '11  have  a  comfortable  living  and 
plenty  of  money  for  deeds  of  charity,"  he 
pursued.  "  I  know  I  am  only  a  boor.  Do 
I  say  I  am  not  ?  But  is  a  boor  no  human 
being  at  all  ?  Can't  I  die  a  righteous  Jew  ?  " 
he  pleaded  piteously. 

The  glossy  wig  bent  lower  and  the  silk 
rustled  busily. 

"You  know  that  I  have  on  my  tongue 
what  I  have  on  my  lung,  Tamara.  I  mean 
what  I  say,  and  we  want  no  match-makers. 
America  is  now  treife  to  me.  I  can't  show 
my  head.  The  world  is  dark  and  empty  to 
me.  All  is  gone,  gone,  gone.  I  am  a  little 
baby,  Tamara.  Come,  take  pity.  I  shall 
see  Flora  married  according  to  the  laws  of 
Moses  and  Israel,  and  then  let  us  put  up  a 
canopy  and  set  out  on  our  journey.  I  want 
to  be  born  again.  Well  ?  " 

There  was  no  response. 

"Well,  Tamara?" 

"  Since  it  is  the  will  of  God,"  she  returned 
resignedly,  without  raising  her  head  from 
the  vestments. 


THE   IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM        115 

XII 

Flora  was  all  of  a  flutter  with  impatience 
to  share  her  joy  with  Shay  a,  and  yearning 
for  his  presence.  She  had  not  seen  him 
since  he  had  become  her  legal  husband,  and 
the  two  or  three  hours  seemed  a  week. 

When  the  German  landlady  of  the  little  ' 
Clinton  Street  house  told  her  that  neither 
her  lodger  nor  his  friend  were  in  the  attic 
room  the  young  woman's  heart  sank  within 
her.  Her  message  seemed  to  be  bubbling 
over  and  her  over-wrought  mind  too  weak 
to  bear  it  another  minute.  She  mentally 
berated  her  absent  bridegroom,  and  not 
knowing  whither  to  bend  her  steps  in  quest 
of  him  she  repaired  to  some  girl  friends  to 
while  away  the  time  and  to  deliver  herself 
of  part  of  her  burden  to  them. 

"When  he  comes  tell  him  he  da's  not 
leave  for  one  second  till  I  come  back.  Tell 
him  I've  got  some  grand  news  for  him," 
she  instructed  the  landlady,  struggling  hard 
against  a  wild  temptation  to  unbosom  her 
self  to  the  stranger. 

It  was  about  eight  o'clock  when  she  re 
turned.  Shaya  met  her  in  the  hallway. 

44  Well  ?  "  he  inquired  anxiously. 


116         THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM 

"Well?"  she  mocked  him.  "You  are  a 
daisy!  Why  didn't  you  wait?  Couldn't 
you  guess  I  'd  come  ?  " 

"  How  should  I  ?  But  tell  me  what  your 
father  says.  Why  should  you  torment  me?" 

"  He  says  he  don't  want  you,"  she  replied. 
But  her  look  told  even  a  more  encouraging 
tale  than  the  one  she  had  to  deliver,  and 
they  flew  into  mutual  embrace  in  an  out 
burst  of  happiness  which  seemed  to  both  of 
them  unlike  any  they  had  ever  experienced 
before. 

"  A  life  into  your  little  eyes !  A  health 
into  your  little  hands  and  feet!"  he  mut 
tered,  stroking  her  arm  sheepishly.  "You 
shall  see  how  fine  it  will  all  come  out.  You 
don't  know  me  yet.  I  tell  you  you  don't 
begin  to  know  me,"  he  kept  repeating  with 
some  braggadocio  and  without  distinctly 
knowing  what  he  meant. 

They  were  to  return  home  at  once  and  to 
try  to  pacify  Asriel  as  best  they  could. 
When  Flora  pressed  him  to  take  his  hat 
and  overcoat,  however,  he  looked  reluctant 
and  then  said  :  — 

"  Floraly,  you  know  what ;  come  upstairs 
for  just  one  minute.  We  are  reading  the 
nicest  book  you  ever  saw,  and  there  is  a 


THE    IMPORTED    BRIDEGROOM         117 

lot  of  such  nice  gentlemen  there !  —  several 
genuine  Americans  —  Christians.  Do  come, 
Floraly."  He  drew  her  up  the  two  flights 
of  stairs  almost  by  force.  "  Don't  be  afraid : 
the  landlady  knows  all  about  it,"  he  whis 
pered.  "  You  '11  see  what  nice  people.  I 
tell  you  they  are  so  educated,  and  they  love 
Jews  so  much!  A  Jew  is  the  same  as  a 
Gentile  to  them  —  even  better." 

Flora  felt  a  lump  growing  in  her  heart. 
The  notion  of  Shaya  being  at  this  minute 
interested  in  anything  outside  of  herself  and 
their  mutual  happiness  literally  dazed  her, 
and  before  she  had  time  to  recover  from  her 
shock  she  was  in  the  over-crowded  attic. 

There  were  some  ten  or  twelve  men  in  the 
room,  some  seated  —  two  on  chairs,  two  on 
the  host's  trunk,  and  three  on  his  bed  —  the 
others  standing  by  the  window  or  propping 
the  sloping  wall  with  their  heads.  They 
were  clustered  about  a  round  table,  littered 
with  books,  papers,  and  cigarette  stumps. 
A  tin  can  was  hissing  on  the  flat  top  of  a 
little  parlor  stove,  and  some  of  the  company 
were  sipping  Russian  tea  from  tumblers, 
each  with  a  slice  of  lemon  floating  in  it. 
The  group  was  made  up  of  a  middle-aged 
man  with  a  handsome  and  intensely  intel- 


118    THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

lectual  Scotch  face,  who  was  a  laborer  by 
day  and  a  philosopher  by  night ;  a  Swedish 
tailor  with  the  face  of  a  Catholic  priest ;  a 
Zurich  Ph.  D.  in  blue  eyeglasses  ;  a  young 
Hindoo  who  eked  out  a  wretched  existence 
by  selling  first-rate  articles  to  second-rate 
weeklies,  and  several  Russian  Jews,  all  of 
them  insatiable  debaters  and  most  of  them 
with  university  or  gymnasium  diplomas. 
The  group  met  every  Thursday  to  read 
and  discuss  Harriet  Martineau's  "  Auguste 
Comte,"  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scotch 
man,  who  was  a  leading  spirit  in  positivist 
circles. 

The  philosopher  surrendered  his  chair  to 
the  lady,  in  a  flurry  of  chivalry,  but  a  seat 
was  made  for  him  on  the  trunk,  and  he 
forthwith  resumed  his  reading  with  well- 
bred  impetuosity,  the  kerosene  lamp  in  the 
centre  of  the  table  casting  a  halo  upon  his 
frank,  pleasant  face. 

His  auditors  were  now  listening  with  con 
scious  attention,  some  of  the  younger  men 
affecting  an  absorbed  mien  or  interrupting 
the  reader  with  unnecessary  questions. 
Shaya's  eyes  were  traveling  between  Flora 
and  the  Scotchman's  audience.  "  Did  you 
ever  see  such  a  beautiful  and  stylish  young 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM        119 

lady?"  he  seemed  to  be  saying.  "She  is 
my  bride  —  mine  and  nobody  else's  in  the 
world,"  and,  "Look  at  these  great  men, 
Flora — I  am  their  chum."  Presently, 
however,  he  became  engrossed  in  the  read 
ing  ;  and  only  half -conscious  of  Flora's  pre 
sence,  he  sat  leaning  forward,  his  mouth 
wide  open,  his  face  rapt,  and  his  fingers 
quietly  reproducing  the  mental  gymnastics 
of  Comte's  system  in  the  air. 

The  young  woman  gazed  about  her  in 
perplexity.  The  Scotchman  and  his  read 
ing  inspired  her  with  respect,  but  the  rest  of 
the  company  and  the  tout  ensemble  of  the 
scene  impressed  her  as  the  haunt  of  queer 
individuals,  meeting  for  some  sinister  pur 
pose.  It  was  anything  but  the  world  of  in 
tellectual  and  physical  elegance  into  which 
she  had  dreamed  to  be  introduced  by  mar 
riage  to  a  doctor.  Any  society  of  "  custom 
peddlers "  was  better  dressed  than  these 
men,  who  appeared  to  her  more  like  some 
of  the  grotesque  and  uncouth  characters  in 
Dickens's  novels  than  an  assemblage  of  edu 
cated  people.  For  a  moment  even  Shaya 
seemed  a  stranger  and  an  enemy.  Over 
come  by  the  stuffy,  overheated  atmosphere 
of  the  misshapen  apartment,  she  had  a  sense 


120         THE  IMPORTED  BRIDEGROOM 

of  having  been  kidnaped  into  the  den  of 
some  terrible  creatures,  and  felt  like  crying 
for  help.  Next  she  was  wondering  what  her 
Shaya  could  have  in  common  with  these 
shabby  beings  and  what  it  all  had  to  do 
with  becoming  a  doctor  and  riding  in  a 

buggy. 

"  Shaya !  "  she  whispered,  tugging  him 
by  the  coat-sleeve. 

"  Just  one  moment,  Floraly,"  he  begged 
her.  "Ah,  it 's  so  deep !  " 

A  discussion  engaged  itself.  The  Rus 
sians  fell  to  greedily.  One  of  them,  in 
particular,  a  young  man  with  a  dignified 
bass,  was  hateful  to  Flora.  She  could  not 
have  told  you  why,  but  his  voice,  coupled 
with  the  red  embroidery  of  his  Little-Rus 
sian  shirt-front,  cut  her  to  the  quick. 

The  room  was  full  of  smoke  and  broken 
English. 

Shaya  was  brimful  of  arguments  and 
questions  which  he  had  not  the  courage  to 
advance ;  and  so  he  sat,  now  making  a  ve 
hement  gesture  of  despair  at  somebody 
else's  absurdities,  now  nodding  violent  ap 
proval,  and  altogether  fidgeting  about  in  a 
St.  Vitus's  dance  of  impotent  pugnacity. 

"  Shaya,  it  is  getting  late,  and  papa  "  — 


THE   IMPORTED   BRIDEGROOM        121 

"  One  second,  do  please,  Floraly,  may 
you  live  long,"  he  implored  her,  with  some 
irritation ;  and  taking  the  book  from  the 
Scotchman's  hand,  he  fell  to  turning  over 
its  leaves  in  a  feverish  search  of  what  struck 
him  as  a  misinterpreted  passage. 

Flora  was  going  to  protest  and  to  threaten 
to  leave  without  him,  but  she  could  neither  ' 
speak  nor  stir  from  her  seat.  A  nightmare 
of  desolation  and  jealousy  choked  her  — 
jealousy  of  the  Scotchman's  book,  of  the 
Little-Russian  shirt,  of  the  empty  tea- 
glasses  with  the  slices  of  lemon  on  their 
bottoms,  of  the  whole  excited  crowd,  and 
of  Shaya's  entire  future,  from  which  she 
seemed  excluded. 


A  PROVIDENTIAL  MATCH 

HE  is  still  known  among  his  townspeople 
as  Kouvke  Arbel.  Rouvke  they  call  him, 
because  this  name,  in  its  more  respectful 
form  of  Rouven,  was  bestowed  upon  him  on 
the  eighth  day  of  his  life,  at  the  ceremony 
which  initiated  him  into  Israel.  As  to  the 
nickname  of  Arbel,  which  is  Yiddish  for 
"  sleeve,"  he  is  indebted  for  it  to  the  appa 
rently  never-to-be-forgotten  fact  that  before 
he  came  to  America,  and  when  he  still 
drove  horses  and  did  all  sorts  of  work  for 
Peretz  the  distiller,  he  was  in  the  habit  of 
assigning  to  the  sleeves  of  his  sheep-skin 
coat  such  duties  as  generally  devolve  upon  a 
pocket-handkerchief. 

That  was  only  about  four  years  ago  ;  and 
yet  Rouvke  is  now  quite  a  different  young 
man  in  quite  a  different  coat  and  with  a 
handkerchief  in  its  side-pocket.  The  face  is 
precisely  the  same :  the  same  everlasting 
frown,  the  same  pockmarks,  hollow  yet  ruddy 
cheeks,  snub  nose,  and  little  gray  eyes,  at 


A   PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH  123 

once  timid  and  sly.     But  for  all  that,  such 
is  the  dissimilarity  between  the  Rouvke  of 
four  years  ago  and  the  Rouvke  of  to-day  that 
recently,  when  his  mother,  who  still  peddles 
boiled   potatoes  in  Kropovetz,  Government 
of  Kovno,  had  been  surprised  by  a  photo 
graph  of  her  son,  her  first  impulse  was  to 
spit  at  the  portrait  and  to  repudiate  it  as  the 
ungodly  likeness  of  some  unknown  gentile. 
But  then  this  photograph,  which,  by  the  way, 
Rouvke  had  taken  by  mere  chance  and  for 
the  sole  reason  that  it  was  no  use  trying  to 
get  any  cash  from  the  Bowery  photographer, 
to  whom  he  had  sold,  on  the  installment  plan, 
"a  pair  of  pants  made  to  order"  —  this  pho 
tograph  fully  establishes  its  original's  claim 
of  not  being  a  "  greener  "  in  the  New  World. 
For    this    is    what    the    portrait     reveals. 
Rouvke's  hair  is  now  entirely  free  from  the 
pair  of  sidelocks,  or  peieths,  which  dangled 
over  his  ears  when  he  first  set  foot  on  Amer 
ican   soil;   it  is   parted   in  the  middle  and 
combed  on  either  side  in  the  shape  of  a  curled 
ostrich-feather.    He  wears  a  collar  ;  and  this 
collar  is  so  high  and  so  much  below  the  size 
of  his  neck  that  it  gives  you  the  uncomfort 
able  idea  of  its  owner  having  swallowed  the 
handle  of  the  whip  with  which  he  used  to 


124  A  PROVIDENTIAL  MATCH 

rule  over  Peretz  the  distiller's  mare.     The 
flannel  muffler,  which  seemed  never  to  part 
company  with  him  while  he  lived  in  Kropo- 
vetz,  has  been  supplanted  by  a  gay  necktie, 
and  the  sheepskin  by  a  diagonal "  cut-away." 
Now,  if  you  were  conversant  with  the  busi 
ness  of  "  custom-peddling,"  you  might  per 
haps  conjecture,  upon  inspecting  Rouvke's 
photograph,  that  his  cut-away,  which  seems 
to  be  at  least  one  size  too  large  for  him,  had 
formerly  encased  the  portly  figure  of  a  bar 
tender.     And   so   it   had,  although  for   no 
length  of  time  ;   for  finding  the  bartender 
as  backward  in  his  payments  as  the  photo 
grapher  had  been,  Rouvke  soon  contrived 
to  prevail  upon  his  delinquent  customer  to 
exchange  the  cut-away  for  a  "mishfeet  cork- 
shcrew  Printz  Albert,"  which  would  "  feet 
him  like  a  glove,"  and  carrying  off  the  di 
agonal  in  advance  he  let  the  bartender  wait 
for  the  glove-like  garment  until  doomsday. 

But  "  bislmess  is  bislmess,"  as  Rouvke 
would  put  it.  Otherwise  he  is  quite  a  fine 
fellow.  His  bills  he  pays  promptly.  On 
the  Eve  of  the  Day  of  Atonement  he  sub 
scribes  a  dollar  or  two  to  the  funds  of  the 
synagogue  "  Sons  of  Kropovetz,"  and  has 
been  known  to  start  a  newly  arrived  towns- 


A   PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH  125 

man  in  business  by  standing  his  security  in 
a  perforated  chair-seat  store  to  the  amount 
of  two  dollars  and  a  half.  Nevertheless, 
since  he  visits  the  Bowery  Savings  Bank  on 
Saturdays  with  the  same  punctuality  with 
which  he  puts  on  his  phylacteries  and  prays 
in  his  room  every  morning  on  week-days,  and 
since  his  townsfolk,  who,  unlike  him,  are 
blessed  with  families,  cannot  afford  such 
excursions  to  the  Bowery  institution,  these 
latter  Kropovetz  Americans  begrudge  him 
his  bank  account,  as  well  as  his  credit  in  the 
peddler-supply  stores,  and  out  of  sheer  envy 
like  to  refer  to  him,  not  as  Robert  Friedman, 
as  his  business-card  reads,  but  as  "  Rouvke 
Arbel  —  what  do  you  think  of  that  slouch !  " 
Let  us  hope,  however,  that  these  invidious 
references  never  reach  Rouvke's  ears ;  for 
his  susceptibilities  in  this  direction  are,  it 
must  be  owned,  rather  keen.  Indeed,  if  there 
be  a  weakness  of  which  he  is  guilty,  it  is  a 
rather  intense  love  of  approbation  and  a 
slight  proneness  to  parade  himself.  I  do  not 
know  what  he  would  not  give  to  have  people 
say  :  "  Robert  is  a  smart  fellow !  Robert  is 
no  greenhorn  I  Robert  is  the  best  soul  in 
the  world !  "  It  was  this  foible  which,  in 
translating  his  first  name  into  English,  caused 


126  A  PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH 

him  to  prefer  Robert  to  Reuben,  on  the 
ground  that  the  former  appellation  seemed 
to  have  less  of  Kropovetz  and  more  of  a 
44  tzibilized  "  sound  to  it. 

The  feminine  element  was  until  recently 
absent  from  Rouvke's  life.  True,  while  at 
home,  in  the  domestic  employ  of  Peretz,  the 
distiller,  he  would  bestow  an  occasional  pinch 
on  Leike  the  servant  maid's  cheek.  But 
that  was  by  no  means  a  pinch  of  gallantry  ; 
it  was  never  one  of  those  pinches  which  a 
Kropovetz  lad  will  accompany  with  a  look 
of  ostensible  mock  admiration  in  his  half- 
shut  eyes,  and  with  the  exclamation  :  "  Capi 
tal  stuff,  that !  as  sure  as  I  am  a  Jew !  " 
No !  Leike  the  lame  devil,  Leike  the  scold, 
Rouvke  hated  from  the  deepest  recesses  of 
his  driver's  soul ;  and  when  he  pinched  her, 
as  he  often  did  in  the  kitchen,  he  did  it,  not 
from  love,  but  simply  that  she  might  smart 
and  "  jump  to  heaven,  the  scarecrow."  And 
Leike  would  so  amply  repay  him  with  the 
ladle,  that  there  would  ensue  a  series  of  the 
most  complex  and  the  most  ingenious  oaths, 
attended  by  hair-tearing  and  by  squeaking, 
till  the  mistress  would  come  rushing  in  and 
terminate  the  war  by  boxing  the  ears  of  both 
belligerent  parties. 


A   PROVIDENTIAL    MATCH  127 

To  Hanele,  his  master's  only  daughter, 
Rouvke  used  to  serve  tea  with  more  alacrity 
than  to  the  rest  of  the  family;  and  when 
Feive,  the  matchmaker,  made  his  first  ap 
pearance  and  the  first  suitor  was  introduced, 
Rouvke's  appetite  for  sour  cream  and  rye 
bread  somehow  disappeared  for  a  few  days, 
while  Rouvke  himself  moved  about  as  if  out 
of  gear,  and  on  one  occasion  caught  a  slap 
in  the  face,  because,  upon  being  ordered  to 
fetch  a  pail  of  water,  he  stood  staring  as  if 
he  did  not  understand  Yiddish.  But  this 
seemed  of  no  consequence,  and  Rouvke  him 
self  could  not,  for  the  life  of  him,  explain 
this  sudden  disappearance  both  of  his  appe 
tite  and  presence  of  mind.  Indeed,  how 
could  he  have  dared  to  connect  Hanele  with 
it?  What  could  there  have  been  in  common 
between  the  relish  for  sour  cream  of  a  mere 
driver,  and  the  pet  daughter  of  Reb  l  Pe- 
retz,  the  distiller,  the  son  of  Rabbi  Berele, 
and  the  first  citizen  of  Kropovetz? 

The  negotiations  of  which  Hanele  was  the 
object  were  soon  broken  off,  and  Rouvke's 
truant  appetite  again  fell  into  the  line  of 
drivers*  appetites ;  with  this  difference,  how- 

1  Abbreviation  of  Rabbi,  and  used  aa  equivalent  of 
Mister. 


128  A  PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH 

ever,  that,  when  Hanele  asked  for  a  glass  of 
tea,  he  would  now  run  to  serve  her  with  still 
more  eagerness  than  before. 

Suitor  after  suitor  called  and  was  dis 
missed,  until  a  year  rolled  by,  when  Rouvke's 
name  appeared  in  the  military  service-roll, 
and  he  packed  off  for  America. 

In  America  he  passed  his  first  four  years 
in  the  school  of  peddling,  among  the  most 
diligent  and  most  successful  of  its  students, 
and  so  had  no  mind  for  anything  else  in  the 
world.  Only  during  the  first  few  months 
his  heart  would  almost  unremittingly  be 
pining  and  yearning  after  Kropovetz  —  after 
his  mother,  his  master's  family,  his  master's 
apple-tree,  under  which  he  had  loved  to 
steal  a  nap  on  summer  days ;  the  raised 
lawn  in  front  of  the  house,  where  he  would 
sit  down  of  a  Friday  evening  and  show  off 
his  enormous  top-boots,  just  after  he  had 
given  them  a  fresh  coat  of  tar,  "  in  honor  of 
the  Sabbath ; "  the  well  by  the  synagogue, 
where  on  Saturdays,  during  the  intermission 
in  the  morning  prayer,  he  used  to  indulge 
in  a  lark  with  his  chums,  while  the  elder 
members  of  the  congregation  were  attending 
the  reading  of  the  scrolls.  But  of  all  the 
memories  which  at  this  early  period  of  his 


A   PROVIDENTIAL    MATCH  129 

life  in  New  York  troubled  his  busy  mind 
and  gnawed  at  his  enterprising  heart  that  of 
Hanele  was  the  most  excruciating  and  the 
most  persistent.  In  due  course,  however, 
the  waves  of  time  drowned  in  his  mind  and 
in  his  heart  Hanele  as  well  as  the  apple- 
tree,  the  lawn  in  front  of  the  house,  and  the 
well  by  the  synagogue.  Only  at  rare  inter 
vals,  when  plying  a  new  arrival  from  Kro- 
povetz  with  questions  as  to  the  place  where 
his  cradle  had  been  rocked,  Rouvke  would, 
after  a  cursory  inquiry  concerning  the  health 
of  his  mother  and  of  the  Peretz  family  in 
general,  exact  the  most  minute  information 
about  Hanele  ;  and  then  he  would  for  some 
time  feel  as  if  his  heart  was  "  stretching," 
as  he  himself  would  mentally  define  the 
effect  of  his  stirred-up  recollections. 

For  the  rest,  Rouvke  followed  the  regular 
peddler  course  with  undisturbed  assiduity. 
From  a  handkerchief  peddler  he  was  pro 
moted  to  "  basket-peddling  "  —  that  is  to 
say,  his  stock  became  plentiful  enough  and 
heterogeneous  enough  to  call  for  a  portable 
store  in  the  shape  of  a  basket.  After  a 
while  he  joined  the  class  where  the  peddling 
is  done  on  the  "  stairses  "  of  tenement-houses. 
The  curriculum  of  this  class  includes  the 


130  A   PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH 

occasional  experience  of  being  sent  head 
foremost  down  all  the  "stairses,"  of  then 
picking  one's  self  up  and  imperturbably 
knocking  at  some  door  on  the  ground-floor, 
only  to  come  face  to  face  with  the  janitor 
and  thus  get  into  fresh  trouble,  and  so  on. 
Finally,  Rouvke  reached  the  senior  grade  of 
the  institution,  and  graduated  with  the  de 
gree  of  custom  peddler,  and  with  the  follow 
ing  business  card  for  his  diploma :  "  Robert 
Friedman,  Dealer  in  Furniture,  Carpets, 
Jewelry,  Clothing,  Ladies'  Dress  Goods,  etc. 
Weekly  Payments  Taken." 

As  has  been  said,  Rouvke  was  a  stranger 
to  the  feminine  world.  He  met  a  good 
many  members  of  the  gentle  sex,  but  that 
was  exclusively  in  a  business  way.  The 
other  peddlers  he  would  often  encounter  on 
the  street  in  company  with  nicely  dressed 
"  yoong  laddas,"  with  whom  they  loudly 
spoke  in  English.  He  also  knew  that  these 
fellows  attended  dancing  academies,  balls, 
and  picnics  ;  but  to  him  himself  these  enter 
tainments  were  a  terra  incognita.  And 
sometimes  when  Rouvke  entered  the  house 
of  a  fellow  countryman  on  business  (Rouvke 
never  visited  his  fellow  countrymen  except 
on  business),  and  there  happening  to  be  an 


A    1'ROYWKNTIAL  MATCH  131 

English-speaking  young  woman,  tho  host 
said  :  "  Miss  Goldberg  —  Mr.  Friedman ; 
Mr.  Friedman  —  Miss  Goldberg,"  Mr. 
Friedman  would  blush  crimson  at  the  trans 
action,  while  the  sentence,  "  I  'm  pleashed 
to  mooch  you,"  which  ho  well  knew  was  then 
in  order,  stuck  in  his  throat  and  would  not 
budge.  This,  however,  was  no  common 
occurrence,  for  Rouvke  took  care  to  avoid 
such  predicaments.  At  all  events,  ho  never 
allowed  these  things  to  bother  his  head. 

After  a  while,  however,  by  the  time  the 
peddlers  and  his  townsfolk  estimated  his 
capital  in  cash  at  five  thousand  dollars,  and 
when  he  actually  had  over  three  thousand 
dollars  in  bank  deposits  and  twenty-five 
summers  behind  his  back,  his  heart  somehow 
resumed  its  old  stretching  process.  He  was 
at  a  loss  to  account  for  it ;  but  he  became 
aware  that  each  time  he  passed  by  a  pretty 
young  woman  this  stretching  sensation  forced 
him  to  outrun  her,  and,  making  a  show  of 
stopping  to  look  at  a  window  display,  to 
allow  his  eyes  to  stray  off  under  the  brim  of 
the  fair  one's  hat. 

He  gradually  became  a  new  sort  of  Rouvke. 
Formerly,  when  he  was  subjected  to  the  tor 
tures  of  an  introduction  to  a  "  yoong  ladda," 


132  A   PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH 

the  ordeal  would  result  in  a  mere  blush, 
accompanied  by  one  or  two  minutes'  violent 
throbbing.  Whereas  now,  every  time  a 
similar  accident  befell  him,  he  would,  after 
the  calamity  was  over,  hasten  to  find  himself 
in  front  of  a  looking-glass,  and  fall  to  in 
specting  his  glaring  necktie  and  more  partic 
ularly  the  pockmarks  on  his  nose.  In  times 
past  he  was  hardly  ever  conscious  of  these 
traces  of  smallpox  on  his  face ;  now  they 
dwelt  in  his  mind  with  such  pertinacity  that 
one  night  he  dreamed  of  seeing  a  water 
melon,  which  was  somehow  at  the  same  time 
a  dog  with  a  huge  nose  all  covered  with 
pocks.  And  when  he  awoke  in  the  morning 
he  felt  so  sick  at  heart  that  he  could  not 
relish  his  breakfast,  and  was  so  dazed  all 
that  day  that  he  had  a  carpet  sent  to  an 
Irishwoman  who  had  ordered  some  satin  for 
a  dress. 

Rouvke  enrolled  in  a  public  evening 
school  for  immigrants,  and  when  he  had 
achieved  the  wisdom  of  piecing  together  the 
letters  in  "  cat,"  "  rat,"  "  mat,"  of  the  First 
Reader,  he  one  afternoon  bought  a  news 
paper,  and  applied  himself  to  looking  for  an 
advertisement  of  some  physician  who  would 
undertake  to  remove  the  footprints  of  small- 


A   PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH  133 

pox.  He  had  an  idea  that  the  papers  con 
tained  kindred  advertisements.  The  under 
taking  proved  a  failure,  however,  for  Rouvke 
could  detect  in  the  paper  neither  "  cat "  nor 
"  rat,"  while  the  other  words  only  swam  be 
fore  his  eyes.  And  his  heart  was  "  stretch 
ing  "  and  "  stretching." 

It  would  be  unfair  to  Rouvke,  however, 
to  ascribe  his  attending  evening  school  to 
the  sole  purpose  of  being  able  to  make  out 
a  medical  advertisement.  His  chief  motive 
therefor  was  twofold  :  In  the  first  place,  he 
would  often  say  to  himself :  "  Robert,  bear 
in  mind  that  you  are  Rouvke  no  longer ;  the 
chances  are  that  in  a  year  or  two  you  may 
open  a  peddler's  supply-store  of  your  own  : 
now,  you  know  that  the  owner  of  a  store 
who  cannot  read  and  write  is  in  danger  of 
being  robbed  by  his  bookkeeper."  In  the 
second  place,  his  "  stretching  "  heart  seemed 
to  whisper :  "  Robert,  remember  those  ladies 
have  nothing  but  sneers  for  a  gentleman  who 
does  not  know  how  to  read  a  newspaper." 

Moreover,  those  of  his  fellow  peddlers 
who  had  studied  the  Talmud  in  Russia,  and 
having,  therefore,  some  mental  training, 
found  no  trouble  in  picking  up  some  crumbs 
of  broken  English  in  its  written  form,  would 


134  A   PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH 

often  rally  him  on  the  "  iron  head  "  he  must 
possess  to  retain  the  ponderous  load  of  the 
addresses  and  accounts  of  his  numerous  cus 
tomers  without  committing  them  to  writing. 
These  pleasantries  pierced   Rouvke  to  the 
heart ;  but  the  pain  they  gave  him  was  not 
half  so  cruel  as  his  moral  pangs  at  the  jokes 
which  were  showered  at  him  on  the  subject 
of   his  shyness  in   the   presence  of   ladies. 
Often  he  would  be  entrapped  into  the  com 
pany  of  a  "  nearly  American-born  "  daughter 
of  Israel ;  but  a  still  more  frequent  prank 
at  his  expense  was  for  a  facetious  fellow  to 
drag  him  out  to  the  middle  of  the  floor  in  a 
peddler-supply  store,  and  to  force  him  into 
a  waltz,  or  to  jestingly  measure  his  legs,  by 
way  of  ascertaining  their   potential   adroit 
ness  in  a  dancing-hall.    "  Eh,  Robert !  "  they 
would  torment  him,  "buy  a  teecket  for  a 
ball,  veel  you?     A  ball  fi'sht  clesh,  I  tell 
you.     Come,  ven  the  laddas  veel  shee  you, 
dey  veel  get  shtuck  —  in  de  co'ners."     Ro 
bert  would  struggle,  scream,  swear,  and,  after 
all,  steal  up  to  the  front  of  the  looking-glass. 
And  his  heart  would  be  "  stretching "  and 
"  stretching." 

Whenever  he  heard  of  a  new  marriage, 
he  would  apply  for  details  as  to  the  bride 


A   PROVIDENTIAL    MATCH  135 

and  the  bridegroom  —  how  much  he  earned 
a  week,  how  they  came  to  be  engaged,  what 
space  of  time  interposed  between  the  engage 
ment  and  the  wedding.    One  Saturday  morn 
ing,  while  mounting  the  stairs  which  led  to 
his  miniature  hall  bedroom,  he  saw  through 
an  open  door  a  young  woman  buttoning  the 
shirt-collar  for  her  husband  ;  whereupon  his 
heart  swelled  with  a  feeling  of  mixed  envy 
and   extreme    friendliness    for    the    young 
couple.      "  Who   is   he  ? "   he   remarked   to 
himself,  on  reaching   his  room,  which  now 
seemed  to  him  desolate  and  lonely.     "  Only 
a  tailor,  a  penniless  workman.     When  I  am 
married    I    shall    not    live    in    a    tenement 
house. "     And  at  this  his  fancy  unfolded  a 
picture :  A  parlor  with  bronze  clock  on  the 
mantelpiece  ;  a  mirror  between  two  lace  win 
dow-curtains  ;    a  dark-eyed  little  woman  in 
a  chocolate-colored  wrapper  sweeping  a  car 
pet  of  flaming  red  and  yellow ;  and,  behold  I 
he,  Robert,  comes  in  from  business,  and  the 
young  woman  addresses  him  in  a  piping  lit 
tle  voice :    "  Hello,  Rob  !      Will  you  have 
dinner  ?  "  just  as  he  had  the  day  before  seen 
in  the  house  of   a  newly  married   custom- 
peddler. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  in  those  days  of 


136  A   PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH 

"  heart-stretching,"  that  one  Saturday  morn 
ing  Robert  met  at  the  "  Sons  of  Kropovetz  " 
Synagogue  a  new  arrival  from  his  native 
place  in  the  person  of  Feive  the  mdamed. 
As  the  Hebrew  term  implies,  this  tall  and 
bony  old   gentleman,   with   the   face   of  a 
martyr,  had  at  home  conducted  one  of  the 
schools  in  which  a  Jewish  boy  passes  the 
day,  learning  the  Word  of  God.     As  is  not 
unusual  with  melameds,  Feive's  profession 
yielded  him  an  income  which  made  it  neces 
sary  for  him  to  devote   his  spare  hours  to 
the  business  of  shadchen,  or  shidech  agent 
—  that  is,  of  matchmaker  in  the  matrimo 
nial  sense  of  the  word.     In  course  of  time 
the  shadchen  spirit  had  become  so  deeply 
imbedded  in  Reb  Feive's  soul  that  even  on 
finding  himself  in  New  York,  and   before 
his  draggling  satin  coat  had  had  time  to  ex 
hale  its  lingering  traces  of  steerage  odors, 
his  long  and  snuff-stocked  nose  fell  to  smell 
ing  for  shidechs. 

"  Ah,  Reb  Feive ! "  Rouvke  accosted  his 
townsman,  "  how  do  you  do  ?  Quite  an  un 
expected  guest,  as  sure  as  I  am  a  Jew  1 
When  did  you  arrive  ?  " 

And  after  a  perfunctory  catechism  upon 
the  health  of  his  mother  and  Kropovetz 


A  PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH  137 

matters  in  general,  he  inquired  about  his 
old  master. 

"  Peretz  ?  "  the  old  man  echoed  Rouvke's 
interrogation.  "  May  the  Uppermost  have 
mercy  on  him !  You  have  heard  that  he  is 
now  in  reduced  circumstances,  have  you 
not  ?  The  distillery  is  closed." 
"  You  don't  say  so !  " 
"  Yes,  he  is  in  a  very  bad  way,"  Reb 
Feive  resumed,  curling  one  of  his  long  yel 
lowish-gray  side-locks.  "  You  know  what 
hard  times  the  Jews  are  now  having  in  Rus 
sia.  Things  are  getting  from  bad  to  worse 
—  may  He  whom  I  dare  not  mention  with 
out  washing  my  hands  deliver  us  and  pre 
serve  !  —  a  Jew  can  nowadays  hardly  engage 
in  any  business,  much  less  in  the  liquor  line. 
Poor  Peretz,  he  looks  so  careworn !  " 

"Can  it  be  true  that  the  distillery  has 
been  closed  ?  I  am  very  sorry." 

Rouvke  was  moved  with  profound  pity 
for  his  old  employer,  who  had  been  kind  to 
him,  and  to  whom  he  had  been  devoted. 
But  this  feeling  of  commiseration  was  in 
stantly  succeeded  by  a  vague  sense  of  tri 
umph.  "  What  have  I  lived  to  see !  " 
Rouvke  seemed  to  exclaim.  "  I  am  now 
richer  than  Reb  Peretz,  as  sure  as  I  am  a 


138  A  PROVIDENTIAL  MATCH 

Jew!"  And  at  this  he  became  aware  of 
the  bank-book  in  his  breast-pocket. 

"  Oh,  I  am  very,  very  sorry  for  him  ! "  he 
added,  with  renewed  sincerity,  after  a  slight 
pause.  "  Why,  such  an  honest  Jew !  And 
how  is  Hanele?" 

"As  usual,"  the  shadchen  rejoined  — 
"still  unmarried.  But  it  serves  Peretz 
right  (may  God  not  punish  me  for  my  hard 
words!).  When  I  offered  her  the  best 
matches  in  the  world,  he  was  hard  to  please. 
Nothing  short  of  a  king  would  have  suited 
his  ambition." 

As  the  old  shadchen  spoke  his  right  arm, 
hand,  and  fingers  were  busily  engaged  punc 
tuating  his  words  with  a  system  of  the  most 
intricate  and  most  diversified  evolutions  in 
the  air. 

"  And  how  does  she  look?  "  Rouvke  again 
broke  in.  "  Is  she  still  as  pretty  as  she  used 
to  be  ?  " 

"  That  she  is,"  the  matchmaker  returned 
grimly.  "  But  all  the  worse  for  her.  ^fould 
she  were  plainer  looking,  for  then  her  father 
would  not  have  been  so  fastidious  aboQf  a 
young  man  for  her,  and  she  might  be  a 
mother  of  three  children  by  this  time." 

"  Oh,  she  will  have  no  trouble  in  making 


A   PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH  139 

a   match;    such   a   beauty!"     Rouvke   ob 
served. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  Rouvke 
lay  across  his  bed  with  his  legs  stretched  on 
a  chair,  after  his  wont,  and  his  head  lost  in 
recollections  of  Hanele.     She  had  recently 
all  but  faded  away  from  his  memory,  and 
when  he  did  have  occasion  to  recall  her,  her 
portrait  before  his  mind's  eye  would  be  a 
mere  faint-drawn  outline.     But  now,  singu 
larly  enough,  he  could  somehow  again  viv 
idly  see  her  good-natured,  deep,  dark  eyes, 
and  her  rosy  lips  perpetually  exposing  the 
dazzling  whiteness  of  her  teeth  and  illumi 
nating  her  pallid  face  with  inextinguishable 
good  humor;   he  could  hear  the   rustle  of 
her  fresh  calico  dress  as  she  friskily  ran  up 
to  answer  her  father's  solemnly  affectionate 
"Good  Sabbath,"  on  Reb  Peretz's   return 
from  synagogue,  the  last  Saturday  before 
Rouvke's  departure. 

The  image  did  not  send  a  yearning  thrill 
through  Rouvke,  as  it  would  have  done  dur 
ing  his  first  few  months  in  America ;  still, 
on  the  other  hand,  it  now  had  for  his 
wearied  soul  a  quieting,  benign  charm,  which 
it  had  never  exercised  before,  and  the  more 
deeply  to  indulge  in  its  soothing  effect,  he 


140  A  PROVIDENTIAL  MATCH 

shut  his  eyes.  "Suppose  I  marry  her." 
The  thought  flashed  through  his  mind,  but 
was  instantly  dismissed  as  an  absurdity  too 
gross  to  be  indulged  even  for  a  pastime. 
But  the  thought  carried  him  back  to  his  old 
days  in  Kropovetz,  and  he  wished  he  could 
go  there  in  flesh  for  a  visit.  What  a  glori 
ous  time  it  would  be  to  let  them  see  his 
stylish  American  dress,  his  business  -  like 
manners  and  general  air  of  prosperity  and 
"  echucation  " !  Ah,  how  they  would  be 
stupefied  to  see  the  once  Rouvke  Arbel  thus 
elegantly  attired,  "  like  a  regula'  dood  "  ! 
For  who  in  all  Kropovetz  wears  a  cut-away, 
a  brown  derby,  a  necktie,  and  a  collar  like 
his  ?  And  would  it  not  be  lovely  to  donate 
a  round  sum  to  the  synagogue  ?  Oh,  how 
he  would  be  sought  after  and  paraded ! 

"  Poor  Reb  Peretz !  "  he  said  to  himself, 
transferring  his  thoughts  to  the  news  of  his 
old  employer's  adversity.  "  Poor  Hanele  !  " 
Whereat  the  Kropovetz  girl  loomed  up,  her 
head  lowered  and  tears  trickling  down  her 
cheeks,  as  he  had  once  seen  her  when  she 
sat  quietly  lamenting  her  defeated  expecta 
tion  of  a  new  dress.  Rouvke  conceived  the 
vague  idea  of  sending  Reb  Peretz  fifty  dol 
lars,  which  would  make  the  respectable  sum 


A   PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH  141 

of  one  hundred  rubles.  But  the  generous 
plan  was  presently  lost  in  a  labyrinth  of  fig 
ures,  accounts  of  his  customers,  and  reflec 
tions  upon  his  prospective  store,  which  the 
notion  of  fifty  dollars  called  forth  in  his 
dollar-ridden  brain. 

He  thus  lay  plunged  in  meditation  until 
his  reverie  was  broken  by  the  door  flying 
open. 

"  Good  Sabbath  !  Good  Sabbath  !  "  Reb 
Feive  greeted  his  young  townsman  with  his 
martyr-like  features  relaxed  into  a  signifi 
cant  smile,  as  he  squeezed  himself  through 
the  narrow  space  between  the  half-opened 
door  and  the  foot  of  the  bedstead.  •«  Do 
not  take  ill  my  not  knocking  at  the  door 
first.  I  am  not  yet  used  to  your  customs 
here,  greenhorn  that  I  am." 

"Ah,  Reb  Feive !  Good  Sabbath!" 
Rouvke  returned,  starting  up  with  an  anx 
ious  air  and  foreboding  an  appeal  for  pecu 
niary  assistance. 

"  Guess  what  brings  me,  Rouven." 

"  How  can  I  tell  ?  "  the  host  rejoined,  with 
a  forced  simper.  "  And  why  should  you 
not  call  just  for  a  visit  in  honor  of  the  Sab 
bath?  You  are  a  welcome  guest.  Be 
seated,"  he  added,  indicating  his  solitary 


142  A  PROVIDENTIAL  MATCH 

chair  and  himself  keeping  his  seat  on  the 
bed,  which  rendered  the  additional  service 
of  lounge. 

"How  dare  these  beggarly  greenhorns 
beset  me  in  this  manner?  "  he  left  unsaid. 
"  Indeed,  what  business  have  they  to  come 
to  America  at  all?" 

"  Well,  how  are  things  going  on  in  Kro- 
povetz  ?  "  he  asked,  audibly.  "  Business  is 
very  dull  here  —  very  dull,  indeed  —  may  I 
not  be  punished  for  talking  business  on 
Sabbath  "  — 

"  Well,  do  leave  business  alone !  You 
had  better  hear  my  errand,  Rouven,"  the 
matchmaker  said,  working  his  fingers. 
"  Suppose  I  had  a  shidech  for  you,  eh  ?  " 

'*  A  shidech  ?  "  Rouvke  ejaculated,  much 
relieved  from  his  misgivings,  only  to  become 
all  of  a  flutter  with  delicious  surprise. 

"  Yes,  a  shidech ;  and  what  sort  of  a  one ! 
You  never  dreamed  of  such  a  shidech,  I  can 
assure  you.  Never  mind  blushing  like  that. 
Why,  is  it  not  high  time  for  a  young  man 
like  you  to  get  married  ?  " 

"  I  am  not  blushing  at  all,"  Rouvke  pro 
tested,  coloring  still  more  deeply,  and  miss- 
ing  the  sentence  by  which  he  had  been 
about  to  inform  himself  of  the  fair  one's 


A  PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH  143 

name  without  betraying  his  feverish  impa 
tience. 

"  Well,"  Keb  Feive  resumed,  with  a  smile, 
and  twisting  his  side-lock  into  a  corkscrew, 
"  it  would  be  too  cruel  to  try  your  patience. 
Let  us  come  straight  to  the  point,  then.  I 
mean  —  guess  whom  —  well,  I  mean  Hanele, 
Peretz  the  distiller's  Hanele  !  What  do  you 
think  of  that?"  the  shadchen  added  in  a 
whisper,  as  he  let  go  of  his  corkscrew,  and 
started  back  in  well-acted  ecstasy  to  watch 
the  produced  effect. 

Rouvke  flushed  up  to  the  roots  of  his 
hair,  while  his  mouth  opened  in  one  of  those 
embarrassed  grins  which  seem  to  be  espe 
cially  adapted  to  the  mouths  of  Kropovetz 
horse-drivers,  —  one  which  makes  the  gen 
eral  expression  of  the  face  such  that  you  are 
at  a  loss  whether  to  take  it  for  a  smile  or 
for  the  preliminary  to  a  cry. 

"  You  must  be  joking,  Reb  Feive.  Why 
I  a-a-a-I  am  not  thinking  of  getting  married 
as  yet;  a-a-you  had  better  tell  me  some 
news,"  he  faltered. 

The  fact  is  that  the  shadchen's  attack  had 
taken  him  so  unawares  that  it  gave  him  no 
time  to  analyze  his  own  mind,  and  although 
the  subject  thrilled  his  soul  with  delightful 


144  A  PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH 

curiosity,  he  dreaded  the  risk  of  committing 
himself.  But  Feive  was  not  the  man  to  let 
himself  be  put  off  so  easily  in  matters  of  a 
professional  nature  ;  and  so,  warming  up  to 
the  beloved  topic,  he  launched  out  in  a  flood 
of  garrulity,  emphasizing  his  speech  now  by 
striking  some  figure  in  space,  now  by  an  en 
ergetic  twirl  of  his  yellowish  gray  append 
ages.  He  enlarged  with  real  shadchenlike 
gusto  on  the  prospective  bride's  virtues  and 
accomplishments ;  on  the  love  which,  accord 
ing  to  him,  she  had  always  professed  for 
Rouvke  ;  on  the  frivolity  of  American  girls ; 
on  the  honor  it  would  confer  upon  his  lis 
tener  to  marry  into  the  family  of  Reb  Peretz 
the  distiller. 

Rouvke  followed  Reb  Feive  with  breath 
less  attention,  but  never  uttered  a  word  or 
a  gesture  which  might  be  interpreted  into 
an  encouragement.  This,  however,  mattered 
but  little  to  the  old  matrimonial  commission 
agent,  for,  carried  away  with  his  own  elo 
quence,  he  talked  himself  into  the  impres 
sion  that  Rouvke  "was  willing,"  if  I  may 
be  permitted  to  borrow  a  phrase  from  a 
more  famous  horse-driver.  At  any  rate, 
when  Reb  Feive  suddenly  bethought  himself 
that  he  came  near  missing  the  afternoon 


A   PROVIDENTIAL    MATCH  145 

service  at  the  synagogue,  and  abruptly  got 
up  from  his  seat,  Rouvke  seemed  anxious  to 
detain  him ;  and  as  he  returned  "  What  is 
your  hurry,  Reb  Feive  ?  "  to  his  departing 
visitor's  "  Good-pie  I  —  is  that  the  way  you 
say  here  on  leaving?"  he  felt  for  the  old 
man  a  kind  of  filial  tenderness. 

Choson  is  a  term  applied  to  a  Jewish 
young  man,  embracing  the  period  from  the 
time  he  is  placed  on  the  matrimonial  mar 
ket  down  to  the  termination  of  the  nup 
tial  festivities.  There  is  all  the  difference 
in  the  world  between  a  choson  and  a  com 
mon  unmarried  mortal  of  the  male  sex,  who 
is  left  to  the  bare  designation  of  bocfier,  the 
very  sound  of  the  hymeneal  title  possessing 
an  indefinable  charm,  an  element  of  solem 
nity,  which  seems  to  invest  its  bearer  with  a 
glittering  halo. 

Reb  Feive  thus  suddenly,  as  if  by  a  magic 
wand,  converted  Rouvke  from  a  simple  bo- 
cher  into  a  choson.  And  so  keenly  alive  was 
Rouvko  to  his  unexpected  transformation, 
that  for  some  time  after  the  wizard's  depart 
ure  his  face  was  wreathed  in  bashful  smiles, 
as  if  his  new  self,  by  its  dazzling  presence, 
embarrassed  him.  He  felt  the  change  in 
himself  in  a  general  way,  however,  and 


146  A  PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH 

quite  apart  from  the  idea  of  Hanele.  As  to 
Peretz's  daughter,  the  notion  of  her  assent 
ing  to  marry  him  again  seemed  preposterous. 
Besides,  admitting  for  argument's  sake,  as 
the  phrase  goes,  that  she  would  accept  him, 
Rouvke  reflected  that  he  would  then  not  be 
fool  enough  to  enter  into  wedlock  with  a 
portionless  girl  ;  that  if  he  waited  a  year  or 
two  longer  (although  it  seemed  much  too 
long  to  wait),  that  is,  until  he  was  a  pros 
pering  storekeeper,  he  could  get  for  a  wife 
the  daughter  of  some  Division  Street  mer 
chant  with  two  or  three  thousand  dollars 
into  the  bargain. 

So  he  relinquished  the  thought  of  Hanele 
as  a  tiling  out  of  the  question  and  proceeded 
to  picture  himself  the  choson  of  some  Amer 
ican  girl.  But  as  he  was  making  that  effort, 
the  image  of  the  Kropovetz  maiden  kept 
intruding  upon  his  imagination,  interfering 
with  the  mental  process,  and  his  heart  seemed 
all  the  while  to  be  longing  after  the  dis 
missed  subject  and  filled  with  the  desire  that 
he  might  have  both  matches  to  choose  from. 
Finally,  he  yielded  and  resumed  the  discus 
sion  of  Reb  Feive's  project.  The  idea  of  a 
Division  Street  business  man  for  a  father- 
in-law,  beside  the  assumption  of  becom- 


x> 

A   PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH  147 

ing  the  son-in-law  of  Reb  Peretz,  appeared 
prosaic  and  vulgar.     Those  New  York  mer 
chants  had  risen  from  the  mire,  like  himself, 
while   hid  old  mantur  looked  at   tho   world 
from  the  lofty  height  of  distinguished  birth, 
added  to  Talmudical  learning  and  exceeding 
social  importance.     And   here  the  ties  of 
traditional  reverence   and  adoration  which 
bound  Rouvke  to  his  former  employer  made 
themselves  keenly  felt  in  his  heart.    Ah,  for 
the  privilege  of  calling  Reb  Porotz  father- 
in-law  I    To  think  of  the  stir  the  news  would 
make  among  his   townsfolk,  both   in  Kro- 
povetz  and  here  in  New  York  I     Besides,  the"! 
American-born  or  "  nearly  American-born  " 
girls  inspire  him  with  fear.     These  young 
ladies  are  brought  up  at  picnics  and  balls, 
while  to  him  the  very  thought  of  inviting  a 
lady  for  a  dance   is   embarrassing.     What 
are   they   good  for,   anyway?     They   look 
more  Christian  than  Jewish,  and  are  only 
great  hands  at  squandering  their  husbands' 
money  on  candy,  dresses,  and  theatres.     A 
woman  like  that  would  domineer  over  him, 
treat  him  haughtily,  and  generally  make 
life  a  burden  to  him.     Hanele,  dear  Hanele, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  a  true  daughter  of 
Israel.      She   would  make   a   good   house- 


148  A  PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH 

keeper ;  would  occasionally  also  mind  the 
store ;  would  accompany  him  to  synagogue 
every  Saturday;  and  that  is  just  what  a 
man  like  him  wants  in  a  wife.  An  English- 
speaking  Mrs.  Friedman  he  would  have  to 
call  "  darling,"  a  word  barren  of  any  charm 
or  meaning  for  his  heart,  whereas  Hanele 
he  would  address  in  the  melodious  terms  of 
"  Kreinele  meine  !  Gold  meine  I "  1  Ah, 
the  very  music  of  these  sounds  would  make 
him  cry  with  happiness  !  V 

The  thought  of  a  walk  to  synagogue  with 
Hanele,  dressed  in  a  plush  cloak  and  an 
enormous  hat,  by  his  side,  and  of  whispering 
these  words  of  endearment  in  her  ear  was 
enchanting  enough  ;  but  then,  enchantment- 
like,  the  spectacle  soon  faded  away  before 
the  hard,  retrospective  fact  of  Rouvke,  the 
horse-driver,  in  top-boots,  serving  tea  to 
Hanele,  the  only  daughter  of  Reb  Peretz 
the  distiller.  "  Oh,  it  cannot  be !  Feive  is 
a  greener  to  take  such  a  match  into  his 
head !  "  he  mentally  exclaimed  in  black  de 
spair.  And  forthwith  he  once  more  sought 
consolation  in  the  prospect  of  a  marriage 
portion  which  a  New  York  wife  would  bring 
him,  and  fell  to  adding  the  probable  amount 

1 "  My  little  crown  !     My  gold  ! " 


A  PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH  149 

to  his  own  future  capital.  Hanele  will  re 
ject  him  ?  "Why,  so  much  the  better !  That 
makes  it  impossible  for  him  to  commit  the 
folly  of  sacrificing  at  least  two  thousand 
dollars.  And  his  spirits  rose  at  the  narrow 
escape  he  was  having  from  a  ruinous  temp 
tation.  Still,  lurking  in  a  deeper  corner  of 
his  heart,  there  lingered  something  which 
wounded  his  pride  and  made  him  feel  as  if 
he  would  much  rather  have  that  means  of 
escape  cut  off  from  him  and  the  temptation 
left  for  himself  to  grapple  with. 

Feive,  the  inelamed,  had  another  talk  with 
Rouvke  ;  but  although  he  did  not  hesitate 
to  speak  authoritatively  of  Reb  Peretz's  and 
Hanele's  assent,  he  utterly  failed  to  elicit 
from  his  interlocutor  any  positive  hint.  No 
thing  daunted,  however,  the  shadchen  de 
spatched  a  lengthy  epistle  to  Reb  Peretz. 
He  went  off  in  raptures  over  Rouvke's 
wealth,  social  rank  in  America,  and  religious 
habits,  and  gave  him  credit  for  newly  ac 
quired  education.  "  It  is  not  the  Rouvke 
of  yore,"  read  at  least  one  line  on  each  of 
the  ten  pages  of  the  letter.  The  installment 
peddling  business  was  elevated  to  the  dignity 
of  a  combination  of  large  concerns  in  furni 
ture,*  jewelry,  and  clothing.  The  owner  of 


150  A  PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH 

this  thriving  establishment  was  depicted  as 
panting  with  love  for  Hanele,  and  this  again 
was  pointed  out  as  proof  that  the  match  had 
been  foreordained  by  Providence. 

Reb  Peretz's  answer  had  not  reached  its 
destination  when  in  New  York  there  occurred 
two  events  which  came  to  the  daring  match 
maker's  assistance. 

The  daughter  of  a  Seventh  Ward  landlord 
had  been  betrothed  to  a  successful  custom 
peddler,  her  father  promising  one  thousand 
dollars  in  cash,  in  addition  to  a  complete 
household  outfit,  as  her  marriage  portion. 
As  the  fixed  wedding-day  drew  near,  the 
choson  was  one  day  shocked  to  receive  from 
his  would-be  father-in-law  the  intimation 
that  his  girl  and  the  household  outfit  were 
good  enough  on  their  own  merits,  and  that 
the  thousand  dollars  would  have  to  be  dis 
pensed  with.  The  young  man  immediately 
cut  short  his  visits  to  the  landlord's  daugh 
ter  ;  but  a  fortnight  had  hardly  elapsed  be 
fore  he  found  himself  behind  prison  bars  on 
an  action  brought  in  the  name  of  his  broken 
hearted  sweetheart.  How  the  matter  was 
compromised  does  not  concern  our  story ; 
but  the  news,  which  for  several  days  was 
the  main  topic  of  gossip  in  the  peddler 


A   PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH  151 

stores,  reached  Rouvke  ;  and  the  effect  it 
had  on  him  the  reader  may  well  imagine :  it 
riddled  to  pieces  the  only  unfavorable  argu 
ment  in  his  discussion  of  Feive's  offer. 

A  still  more  powerful  element  in  reaching 
a  conclusion  was  with  Rouvke  the  following 
incident :  — 

One  day  he  went  to  see  the  shadchen, 
who  had  his  lodging  in  the  house  of  a  fellow 
townsman.  While  he  stood  behind  the  door 
adjusting  his  necktie,  as  he  now  invariably 
did  before  entering  a  house,  he  overheard  a 
loud  dialogue  between  the  housewife  and 
her  boarder.  Catching  his  own  name, 
Rouvke  paused  with  bated  breath  to  listen. 

"Pray,  don't  be  talking  nonsense,  Reb 
Feive,"  came  to  the  ears  of  our  eavesdrop 
per.  "  Peretz  the  distiller  give  his  Hanele 
in  marriage  to  Rouvke  Arbel !  —  That  pock- 
pitted  bugbear  and  Hanele  I  Such  a  beauty, 
such  a  pampered  child!  Why,  anybody 
would  be  glad  to  marry  her,  penniless  as  she 
may  be.  She  marry  that  horrid  thing,  slop- 
tub,  cholera  that  he  is  1 " 

Rouvke  was  cut  to  the  quick ;  and  shiver 
ing  before  the  prospect  of  hearing  some 
further  uncomplimentary  allusions  to  him 
self,  he  was  on  the  point  of  beating  retreat ; 


152  .4   PROVIDENTIAL    MATCH 

but  the  very  thought  of  those  epithets  con 
tinuing  to  be  uttered  at  his  expense,  even 
though  beyond  his  hearing,  was  too  painful 
to  bear  ;  and  so  he  put  a  stop  to  them  by  a 
knock  at  the  door. 

"  But  are  you  really  sure,  Reb  Feive,  that 
Reb  Peretz  will  have  me  ?  "  he  queried,  after 
a  little,  all  of  a  flutter,  in  a  private  conver 
sation  with  the  shadchen,  in  the  bedroom. 

"  Leave  it  to  me,"  the  marriage-broker 
replied.  "  I  have  managed  greater  things 
in  my  lifetime.  It  is  as  good  as  settled." 

"  See  if  I  do  not  marry  Hanele  after  all, 
if  only  to  spite  you,  grudging  witch  that 
you  are ! "  Rouvke,  in  his  heart,  addressed 
to  his  townswoman,  on  emerging  from  the 
pitchy  darkness  of  the  little  bedroom. 

"  Good-by,  Mrs.  Kohen  !  "  his  tongue  then 
said,  as  his  eyes  looked  daggers  at  her. 

Reb  Peretz  concluded  the  reading  of  Reb 
Feive's  letter  by  good  naturedly  calling  him 
"foolish  melamed."  Little  by  little,  how 
ever,  the  very  fact  that  the  shadchen  could 
now  dare  conceive  such  a  match  at  all  be 
gan  to  mortify  him.  It  took  him  back  to 
the  time  when  Rouvke  used  to  sit  behind 
his  mare,  and  when  he,  Reb  Peretz,  was 
the  most  prosperous  Jew  for  miles  around, 


A   PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH  153 

and  it  wrung  his  heart  with  pity  both  for 
himself  and  for  Hanele.     He  became  aware 
that  it  was  over  a  year  since  a  young  man 
had  come  to  offer  himself,  and  instead  of 
becoming   irritated   with    his   daughter,   as 
had  latterly  been   frequently  the  case  with 
him,  he  was  overpowered  by  an  acute  twinge 
of  hurt  pride,  as  well   as   by  compunction 
for  the  splendid  matrimonial  opportunities 
which  he  had  brushed  aside  from  her.     It 
occurred   to  Reb   Peretz   that  Hanele  was 
now  in  her  twenty-fifth  year,  whereupon  his 
fancy  reproachfully  pointed  at  his  cherished 
child  in  the  form  of  a  gray -haired  old  maid. 
A   shudder  ran  through  his   veins   at   the 
vision,  and  he  began  to  seek  refuge  in  com 
mercial  air  castles,  but  the  aerial  structures 
were  presently  blown  away,  only  to  leave 
him  face  to  face  with   the  wretched   ram 
shackle  edifice   of   his  actual  affairs.     His 
attention  reverted  to  the  American  letter, 
but  the  collocation  of  Rouvke  Arbel  with 
Hanele    sickened    Reb    Peretz.     His    self- 
respect  suddenly  rushed  back  upon  him,  and 
he  felt  like  "  tearing  out  the  beard  and  side- 
locks  "  of  the  impudent  shadchen. 

Nevertheless,  he  took  up  the  letter  once 
more.     This   time  the   matchmaker's   eulo- 


154  A  PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH 

gies  of  Rouvke's  flourishing  business  made 
a  deeper  impression  on  him,  and  brought 
the  indistinct  reflection  that  in  course  of 
time  he  might  have  to  emigrate  to  America 
himself  with  his  whole  family. 

"  Pooh,  nonsense !  "  he  ultimately  con 
cluded,  after  a  third  or  fourth  reading  of 
Reb  Feive's  missive.  "America  makes  a 
new  man  of  every  young  fellow.  There  had 
not  been  a  more  miserable  wretch  than 
Tevke,  the  watchman ;  and  yet  when  he 
recently  came  back  from  America  for  a 
visit,  he  looked  like  a  prince.  Let  her  go 
and  be  a  mother  of  children,  as  behooves  a 
daughter  of  Israel.  We  must  trust  to  God. 
The  match  does  look  like  a  Providential 
affair." 

Reb  Peretz  was  a  whole  day  in  mustering 
courage  for  an  explanation  with  Hanele. 
But  when  he  had  at  last  broached  the  sub 
ject  to  her,  by  means  of  rendering  Feive's 
Hebrew  letter  into  Yiddish,  his  undertaking 
proved  easier  of  achievement  than  he  had 
anticipated. 

Hanele  was  really  a  "  true  daughter  of 
Israel,"  and  this  implies  that  her  education 
was  limited  to  the  reading  of  a  Yiddish 
version  of  the  Five  Books  of  Moses,  and 


A  PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH  155 

that  her  knowledge  of  the  world  did  not 
extend  beyond  "  Kropovetz  and  its  goats," 
as  the  phrase  runs  in  her  native  town.  She 
was  a  taciturn,  good-natured,  and  tractable 
girl,  and  her  greatest  pleasure  was  to  be 
knitting  fancy  table-cloths  and  brooding 
over  day-dreams.  Moreover,  the  repeated 
appearance  and  disappearance  of  chosons,  by 
recurrently  unsettling  her  hitherto  calm  and 
easy  heart,  had  left  it  in  a  state  of  perpet 
ual  unrest.  She  had  not  fallen  in  love  with 
any  of  the  young  men  who  had  sought  her 
hand  and  her  marriage  portion,  for,  accord 
ing  to  a  rigid  old  rule  of  propriety  to  which 
her  father  clung,  she  never  had  been  allowed 
the  chance  of  interchanging  a  word  with  any 
of  them,  even  while  the  suit  was  pending. 
Still,  when  a  month  passed  without  a  shad- 
chen  putting  in  an  appearance,  she  would 
often,  when  the  latch  gave  a  click,  raise  her 
eyes  to  the  door  in  the  eager  hope  that  it 
would  admit  a  member  of  that  profession. 
In  her  reveries  she  now  frequently  dwelt  on 
her  girl  friends  who  had  married  out  of 
Kropovetz,  and  then  her  soul  would  be  yearn 
ing  and  longing,  she  knew  not  after  what. 
With  all  the  tender  affection  which  tied  her 
to  her  family,  with  all  her  attachment  to 


156  A  PROVIDENTIAL  MATCH 

her  native  surroundings,  her  father's  house 
became  dreary  and  lonely  to  her ;  she  grew 
tired  of  her  home  and  homesick  after  the 
rest  of  the  world. 

To  be  sure,  the  first  intimation  as  to  her 
marrying  Rouvke  Arbel  shocked  her,  and 
on  realizing  the  full  meaning  of  the  offer 
she  dropped  her  head  on  her  father's  shoul 
der  and  burst  into  tears.  But  as  Reb  Peretz 
stroked  her  hair,  while  he  presented  the 
matter  in  an  aspect  which  was  even  an  im 
provement  on  Feive's  plea,  he  gradually 
hypnotized  her  into  a  lighter  mood,  and 
she  recalled  Rouvke's  photograph,  which  his 
mother  had  on  several  occasions  flaunted  be 
fore  her.  The  match  now  assumed  a  some 
what  romantic  phase.  She  let  her  jaded 
imagination  waft  her  away  to  an  unknown 
far-off  land,  where  she  saw  herself  glittering 
with  gold  and  pearls  and  nestling  up  to  a 
masculine  figure  in  sumptuous  attire.  It  was 
a  bewitching,  thrilling  scene  only  slightly 
marred  by  the  dim  outline  of  Rouvke  in 
top-boots  and  sheepskin  rising  in  the  back 
ground.  Ah,  it  was  such  a  pity  to  have  that 
taint  on  the  otherwise  fascinating  picture! 
And,  in  order  to  remove  the  sickly  blotch, 
Hanele  essayed  to  rig  Rouvke  out  in  a  "  cut- 


A  PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH  157 

away,"   stand-up   collar,  and   necktie  after 
the  model  of  the  photograph.     But  then  her 
effort  produced  a  total  stranger  with  fea 
tures  she  could  not  make  out,  while  Rouvke 
Arbel,  top-boots,  sheepskin  and  all,  seemed  to 
have  dodged  the  elegant  attire  and  to  remain 
aloof  both  from  the  stranger  and  the  photo 
graph.     Well,  it  is  not  Rouvke,  then,  who 
is   proposed   to   her,  she  settled,  with   the 
three   images   crowding  each  other   in   her 
mind.     It  is  an  entirely  new  man.     Besides, 
who  can  tell  what  may  transpire  ?     Let  her 
first  get  to  America  and  then  —  who  knows, 
but  she  may  in  truth  marry  another  man,  a 
nice  young  fellow  who  had  never  been  her 
father's  servant  ?    And  Hanele  felt  that  such 
would  be  the  case.     At  all  events,  did  not 
Baske  David,  the  flour  merchant's  daughter, 
marry  a  former  blacksmith  in  America,  and 
is   she   not   happy?      Ah,  the   letters   she 
writes  to  her ! 

"  Say  yes  or  no.  Speak  out,  my  little 
dove,"  Reb  Peretz  insisted,  in  conclusion  of 
a  second  conversation  on  the  same  subject. 
44  It  is  not  my  destiny  which  is  to  be  de 
cided.  It  is  for  you  to  say,"  he  added,  feel 
ing  that  Hanele  had  no  business  to  render 
any  but  an  affirmative  decision. 


158  A  PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH 

"Yes,"  she  at  last  whispered,  drooping 
her  head  and  bursting  into  a  cry. 

The  shadchen  gave  himself  no  rest,  and 
letters  sailed  over  the  Atlantic  by  the  dozen. 
In  his  first  reply  Reb  Peretz  took  care  to 
appear  oscillating.  His  second  contained  a 
hint  as  to  the  attachment  which  Hanele  had 
always  felt  for  Rouvke,  whom  they  had 
treated  like  one  of  the  family.  There  were 
also  letters  with  remote  allusions  to  money 
which  Hanele  would  want  for  some  dresses 
and  to  pay  her  way.  And  thus,  with  every 
message  he  penned,  the  conviction  gained 
on  Reb  Peretz  that  his  daughter  would  be 
happy  in  America,  and  that  the  match  was 
really  of  Providential  origin. 

These  letters  operated  on  Rouvke's  heart 
as  an  ointment  does  on  a  wound,  to  cite 
his  own  illustration ;  and  in  spite  of  the 
money  hints,  which  constituted  the  fly  in 
this  ointment,  he  felt  happy.  He  thought 
of  Hanele  ;  he  dreamed  of  her  ;  and,  above 
all,  he  thought  and  dreamed  of  the  sensa 
tion  which  her  departure  from  home  would 
create  at  Kropovetz,  and  of  his  glory  on  her 
arrival  in  New  York.  "  Good  luck  to  you, 
Robert !  "  the  peddlers  repeatedly  congratu 
lated  him.  "Have  you  ever  dreamed  of 


A   PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH  159 

becoming  the  son-in-law  of  Peretz  the  dis 
tiller?  There  should  be  no  end  to  the 
treats  which  you  ought  to  stand  now."  And 
Robert  stood  treat  and  was  wreathed  in 
chosonlike  smiles. 

It  was  a  busy  day  at  Castle  Garden. 
Several  transatlantic  steamers  had  arrived, 
and  the  railed  inclosure  within  the  vast  shed 
was  alive  with  a  motley  crowd  of  freshly 
landed  steerage  passengers.  Outside,  there 
was  a  cluster  of  empty  merchandise  trucks 
waiting  for  their  human  loads,  while  at  a 
haughty  distance  from  these  stood  a  pair 
of  highly  polished  carriages  —  quite  a  rare 
sight  in  front  of  the  immigrant  landing  sta 
tion.  It  was  Rouvke  who  had  engaged 
these  superior  vehicles.  He  had  come  in 
them  with  Reb  Feive,  and  with  two  or  three 
others  of  his  fellow  countrymen  and  brothers 
in  business,  to  meet  Hanele.  He  was  dressed 
in  his  Saturday  clothes  and  in  a  brand-new 
brown  derby  hat,  and  even  wore  a  huge  red 
rose  which  one  of  the  party,  a  gallant  cus 
tom  peddler,  had  stuck  into  the  lapel  of  his 
*'  cut-away  "  before  starting. 

The  atmosphere  of  the  barn-like  garden 
was  laden  with  nauseating  odors  of  steerage 


160  A  PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH 

and  of  carbolic  acid,  and  reeking  with  hu 
man  wretchedness.  Leaning  against  the 
railing  or  sitting  on  their  baggage,  there 
were  bevies  of  unkempt  men  and  women  in 
shabby  dress  of  every  cut  and  color,  holding 
on  to  ragged,  bulging  parcels,  baskets,  or 
sacks,  and  staring  at  space  with  a  look  of 
forlorn,  stupefied,  and  cowed  resignation. 
The  cry  of  children  in  their  mothers'  arms, 
blending  in  jarring  discord  with  the  gruff 
yells  of  the  uniformed  officers,  jostling  their 
way  through  the  crowd,  and  with  the  gen 
eral  hum  and  buzz  inside  and  outside  the 
inclosure,  made  the  scene  as  painful  to  the 
ear  as  it  was  to  the  eye  and  nostrils,  and 
completed  the  impression  of  misery  and  de 
solation. 

Rouvke  and  his  companions,  among  a 
swarm  of  other  residents  of  the  East  Side, 
who,  like  themselves,  had  come  to  meet 
newly  landed  friends,  stood  gazing  through 
the  railing.  Rouvke  was  nervously  biting 
his  finger-nails,  and  now  and  then  brushing 
his  new  derby  with  his  coat-sleeve  or  ad 
justing  his  necktie.  Reb  Feive  was  wind 
ing  his  side-lock  about  his  finger,  while  the 
young  peddlers  were  vying  with  each  other 
in  pleasantries  appropriate  to  the  situation. 


A   PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH  161 

Our  choson  was  lost  in  a  tumult  of  emotions. 
He  made  repeated  attempts  at  collecting  his 
wits  and  devising  a  befitting  form  of  wel 
come  ;  he  tried  to  figure  to  himself  Hanele's 
present  appearance  and  to  forecast  her  con 
duct  on  first  catching  sight  of  him  ;  he  also 
essayed  to  analyze  the  whole  situation  and  to 
think  out  a  plan  for  the  immediate  future. 
But  all  his  efforts  fell  flat.  His  thoughts 
were  fragmentary,  and  no  sooner  had  he 
laid  hold  of  an  idea  or  an  image  than  it 
would  flee  from  his  mind  again  and  his  at 
tention  would,  for  spite,  as  it  were,  occupy 
itself  with  the  merest  trifle,  such  as  the  size 
of  the  whiskers  of  one  of  the  officers  or  the 
sea-biscuit  at  which  an  immigrant  urchin 
was  nibbling. 

At  last  Rouvke's  heart  gave  a  leap.  His 
eyes  had  fallen  on  Hanele.  She  was  still 
more  beautiful  and  charming  than  before. 
Instead  of  the  spare  and  childish-looking 
girl  whom  he  had  left  at  Kropovetz,  there 
stood  before  him  a  stately,  well  -  formed 
young  woman  of  twenty-five. 

"Ha — Ha— Hanele!"  he  gasped  out, 
all  but  melting  away  with  emotion,  and  sud 
denly  feeling,  not  like  Robert  Friedman, 
but  like  Rouvke  Arbel. 


162  A   PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH 

Hanele  turned  her  head  toward  him,  but 
she  did  not  see  him.  So  at  least  it  seemed, 
for  instead  of  pushing  her  way  to  the  part 
of  the  railing  where  he  stood,  she  started 
back  and  obliterated  herself  in  the  crowd. 

Presently  her  name  was  called,  together 
with  other  names,  and  she  emerged  from  a 
stream  of  fellow  immigrants.  More  dead 
than  alive,  Rouvke  ran  forward  to  meet 
her;  but  he  had  advanced  two  steps  when 
his  legs  refused  to  proceed,  and  his  face  be 
came  blank  with  amazement.  For,  behold, 
snugly  supporting  Hanele's  arm,  there  was 
a  young  man  in  spectacles  and  in  a  seedy 
gray  uniform  overcoat  of  a  Russian  colle 
gian,  with  its  brass  buttons  superseded  by 
new  ones  of  black  celluloid. 

The  pair  marched  up  to  Rouvke,  she  with 
her  eyes  fixed  at  the  floor,  as  she  clung  to 
her  companion,  and  the  collegian  with  his 
head  raised  in  timid  defiance. 

"  How  do  you  do,  Rouven  ?  "  she  began. 
44  This  is  Gospoditi (  Levinsky  —  my  cho- 
son.  Do  not  take  it  ill,  Rouven.  I  am  not 
to  blame,  as  true  as  I  am  a  child  of  Israel. 
You  see,  it  is  my  Providential  match,  and  I 
could  not  help  it,"  she  rattled  off  in  a  trem- 
1  Russian  for  Mister. 


A    PKOr/nKNT/AL   MATCH  163 

bling  voice  and  like  an  embarrassed  school 
boy  reciting  a  lesson  which  he'  has  gotten 
well  by  heart. 

"  I  '11  pay  you  every  copeck,  you  can  rest 
assured/'  the  collegian  interposed,  turning 
a*  white  as  a  sheet.  "  I  have  a  rich  brother 
in  Buffalo." 

Hunelo  had  met  the  young  man  in  tho 
steerage  of  the  Dutch  vessel  which  brought 
them  ttcroMs  tho  ocoun ;  and  they  pasnod 
a  fortnight  there,  walking  or  sitting  to 
gether  on  deck,  and  sharing  tho  weird  over 
awing  whispers  of  the  waves,  the  stern 
thumping  of  tho  engine,  and  the  soothing 
smiles  of  the  moon  —  that  skillfulest  of 
shadchens  in  general,  and  on  ship's  deck  in 
particular.  The  long  and  short  of  it  is  that 
tho  matchmaking  luminary  had  cut  Hob 
Feive  out  of  his  job. 

Hanele's  explanation  at  first  stunned 
Rouvke,  and  ho  stood  for  some  time  eyeing 
her  with  a  grin  of  stupid  distraction.  But 
presently,  upon  recovering  his  senses,  he 
turned  as  red  as  fire,  and  making  a  face 
like  that  of  a  child  when  suddenly  robbed  of 
its  toy,  he  wailed  out  in  a  husky  voice : 

"I  want  my  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
back !  "  And  then  in  English  :  — 


164  A  PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH 

"I  call  a  politzman.  I  vant  my  boon- 
dered  an'  fifty  doUar  ! " 

"  Ai,  ai  —  murderess !  murderess !  "  Reb 
Feive  burst  out  at  Hanele.  "I  am  going 
to  get  your  father  to  come  over  here,  at,  ai  I " 
he  lamented,  all  but  bursting  into  tears 
with  rage.  And  presently,  in  caressing 
tones  :  — 

"  Listen  to  me,  Hanele  !  I  know  you  are 
a  good  and  God-fearing  Jewish  girl.  Fie ! 
drop  that  abominable  beggar.  Leave  that 
gentile-like  shaven  mug,  I  tell  you.  Rouven 
is  your  Providential  match.  Look  at  him, 
the  prince  that  he  is  !  You  will  live  like  a 
queen  with  him,  you  will  roll  in  gold  and 
jewels,  Hanele ! " 

But  Hanele  only  clung  to  the  collegian's 
arm  the  faster,  and  the  two  were  about  to 
leave  the  Garden,  when  Rouvke  grasped  his 
successful  rival  by  the  lapels  of  his  overcoat, 
crying  as  he  did  so :  "  Politzman !  Politz 
man  !  " 

The  young  couple  looked  a  picture  of 
helplessness.  But  at  this  juncture  a  burly 
shaven  -  faced  "  runner  "  of  an  immigrant 
hotel,  who  had  been  watching  the  scene, 
sprang  to  their  rescue.  Brushing  Rouvke 
aside  with  a  thrust  of  his  mighty  arm,  ac- 


A   PROVIDENTIAL   MATCH  165 

companied  by  a  rasping  "Git  out,  or  I'll 
punch  your  pockmarked  nose,  ye  monkey !  " 
he  marched  Hanele  and  her  choson  away, 
leaving  Rouvke  staring  as  if  he  were  at  a 
loss  to  realize  the  situation,  while  Reb  Feive, 
violently  wringing  his  hands,  gasped,  "  Ai ! 
ai  I  ai ! "  and  the  young  peddlers  bandied 
whispered  jokes. 


A  SWEAT-SHOP  ROMANCE 

LEIZEB  LIPMAN  was  one  of  those  contract 
tailors  who  are  classed  by  their  hands  under 
the  head  of  "cockroaches,"  which  —  trans 
lating  the  term  into  lay  English  —  means 
.  that  he  ran  a  very  small  shop,  giving  em- 
'ployment  to  a  single  team  of  one  sewing- 
machine  operator,  one  baster,  one  finisher, 
and  one  presser. 

The  shop  was  one  of  a  suite  of  three 
rooms  on  the  third  floor  of  a  rickety  old 
tenement  house  on  Essex  Street,  and  did  the 
additional  duty  of  the  family's  kitchen  and 
dining-room.  It  faced  a  dingy  little  court 
yard,  and  was  connected  by  a  windowless 
bedroom  with  the  parlor,  which  commanded 
the  very  heart  of  the  Jewish  markets.  Bun 
dles  of  cloth,  cut  to  be  made  into  coats,  lit 
tered  the  floor,  lay  in  chaotic  piles  by  one  of 
the  walls,  cumbered  Mrs.  Lipman's  kitchen 
table  and  one  or  two  chairs,  and  formed,  in 
a  corner,  an  improvised  bed  upon  which  a 
dirty  two-year-old  boy,  Leizer's  heir  appar 
ent,  was  enjoying  his  siesta. 


A    SWEAT-SHOP   ROMANCE  167 

Dangling  against  the  door  or  scattered 
among  the  bundles,  there  were  cooking 
utensils,  dirty  linen,  Lipman's  velvet  skull 
cap,  hats,  shoes,  shears,  cotton-spools,  and 
what-not.  A  red-hot  kitchen  stove  and  a 
blazing  grate  full  of  glowing  flat-irons  com 
bined  to  keep  up  the  overpowering  tempera 
ture  of  the  room,  and  helped  to  justify  its 
nickname  of  sweat-shop  in  the  literal  sense 
of  the  epithet. 

Work  was  rather  scarce,  but  the  designer 
of  the  Broadway  clothing  firm,  of  whose 
army  of  contractors  Lipman  was  a  member, 
was  a  second  cousin  to  the  latter's  wife,  and 
he  saw  to  it  that  his  relative's  husband  was 
kept  busy.  And  so  operations  in  Leizer's 
shop  were  in  full  swing.  Heyman,  the  op 
erator,  with  his  bared  brawny  arms,  pushed 
away  at  an  unfinished  coat,  over  which  his 
head,  presenting  to  view  a  wealth  of  curly 
brown  hair,  hung  like  an  eagle  bent  on  his 
prey.  He  swayed  in  unison  to  the  rhythmic 
whirr  of  his  machine,  whose  music,  supported 
by  the  energetic  thumps  of  Meyer's  press- 
iron,  formed  an  orchestral  accompaniment 
to  the  sonorous  and  plaintive  strains  of  a 
vocal  duet  performed  by  Beile,  the  finisher 
girl,  and  David,  the  baster. 


168  A.   8WEAT-8HOP  ROMANCE 

Leizer  was  gone  to  the  Broadway  firm's 
offices,  while  Zlate,  his  wife,  was  out  on  a 
prolonged  haggling  expedition  among  the 
tradeswomen  of  Hester  Street.  This  cir 
cumstance  gave  the  hands  a  respite  from  the 
restrictions  usually  placed  on  their  liberties 
by  the  presence  of  the  "  boss "  and  the 
44  Missis,"  and  they  freely  beguiled  the  te 
dium  and  fatigue  of  their  work,  now  by 
singing,  now  by  a  bantering  match  at  the 
expense  of  their  employer  and  his  wife,  or 
of  each  other. 

"  Well,  I  suppose  you  might  as  well  quit," 
said  Meyer,  a  chubby,  red-haired,  freckled 
fellow  of  forty,  emphasizing  his  remark  by 
an  angry  stroke  of  his  iron.  "  You  have 
been  over  that  song  now  fifty  times  without 
taking  breath.  You  make  me  tired." 

"Don't  you  like  it?  Stuff  up  your  ears, 
then,"  Beile  retorted,  without  lifting  her 
head  from  the  coat  in  her  lap. 

"  Why,  I  do  like  it,  first-rate  and  a  half," 
Meyer  returned,  "  but  when  you  keep  your 
mouth  shut  I  like  it  better  still,  see  ?  " 

The  silvery  tinkle  of  Beile's  voice,  as  she 
was  singing,  thrilled  Heyman  with  delicious 
melancholy,  gave  him  fresh  relish  for  his 
work,  and  infused  additional  activity  into 


A   SWEAT-SHOP  ROMANCE  169 

his  limbs  ;  and  as  her  singing  was  inter 
rupted  by  the  presser's  gibe,  he  involuntarily 
stopped  his  machine  with  that  annoying  feel 
ing  which  is  experienced  by  dancers  when 
brought  to  an  unexpected  standstill  by  an 
abrupt  pause  of  the  music. 

"  And  you  ?  "  —  he  addressed  himself  to 
Meyer,  facing  about  on  his  chair  with  an 
irritated  countenance.  "  It 's  all  right  enough 
when  you  speak,  but  it  is  much  better  when 
you  hold  your  tongue.  Don't  mind  him, 
Beile.  Sing  away !  "  he  then  said  to  the 
girl,  his  dazzlingly  fair  face  relaxing  and  his 
little  eyes  shutting  into  a  sweet  smile  of  self- 
confident  gallantry. 

"  You  had  better  stick  to  your  work,  Hey- 
man.  Why,  you  might  have  made  half  a 
cent  the  while,"  Meyer  fired  back,  with  an 
ironical  look,  which  had  reference  to  the 
operator's  reputation  of  being  a  niggardly 
fellow,  who  overworked  himself,  denied  him 
self  every  pleasure,  and  grew  fat  by  feasting 
his  eyes  on  his  savings-bank  book. 

A  sharp  altercation  ensued,  which  drifted 
to  the  subject  of  Heyman's  servile  conduct 
toward  his  employer. 

44  It  was  you,  was  n't  it,"  Meyer  said, 4*  who 
started  that  collection  for  a  birthday  present 


170  A  SWEAT-SHOP  ROMANCE 

for  the  boss?  Of  course,  we  could  n't  help 
chipping  in.  Why  is  David  independent?" 

44  Did  I  compel  you  ?  "  Heyman  rejoined. 
"  And  am  I  to  blame  that  it  was  to  me  that 
the  boss  threw  out  the  hint  about  that  pre 
sent?  It  is  so  slack  everywhere,  and  you 
ought  to  thank  God  for  the  steady  job  you 
have  here,"  he  concluded,  pouncing  down 
upon  the  coat  on  his  machine. 

David,  who  had  also  cut  short  his  singing, 
kept  silently  plying  his  needle  upon  pieces 
of  stuff  which  lay  stretched  on  his  master's 
dining-table.  Presently  he  paused  to  adjust 
his  disheveled  jet-black  hair,  with  his  fingers 
for  a  comb,  and  to  wipe  the  perspiration 
from  his  swarthy,  beardless  and  typically 
Israelitic  face  with  his  shirt-sleeve. 

While  this  was  in  progress,  his  languid 
hazel  eyes  were  fixed  on  the  finisher  girl. 
She  instinctively  became  conscious  of  his 
gaze,  and  raised  her  head  from  the  needle. 
Her  fresh  buxom  face,  flushed  with  the  heat 
of  the  room  and  with  exertion,  shone  full 
upon  the  young  baster.  Their  eyes  met. 
David  colored,  and,  to  conceal  his  embar 
rassment,  he  asked  :  "  Well,  is  he  going  to 
raise  your  wages  ?  " 

Beile  nodded  affirmatively,  and  again 
plunged  her  head  into  her  work. 


A   SWEAT-SHOP  ROMANCE  171 

44  He  is  ?  So  yon  will  now  get  five  dollars 
a  week.  I  am  afraid  you  will  be  putting  on 
airs  now,  won't  you  ?  " 

44  Do  you  begrudge  me  ?  Then  I  am  will 
ing  to  swap  wages  with  you.  I  '11  let  you 
have  my  five  dollars,  and  I  '11  take  your 
twelve  dollars  every  week." 

Lipman's  was  a  task  shop,  and,  according 
to  the  signification  which  the  term  has  in  the 
political  economy  of  the  sweating  world,  his 
operator,  baster,  and  finisher,  while  nominally 
engaged  at  so  much  a  week,  were  in  reality 
paid  by  the  piece,  the  economical  week  being 
determined  by  a  stipulated  quantity  of  made- 
up  coats  rather  than  by  a  fixed  number  of 
the  earth's  revolutions  around  its  axis  ;  for 
the  sweat-shop  day  will  not  coincide  with  the 
solar  day  unless  a  given  amount  of  work  be 
accomplished  in  its  course.  As  to  the 
presser,  he  is  invariably  a  piece-worker,  pure 
and  simple. 

For  a  more  lucid  account  of  the  task  sys 
tem  in  the  tailoring  branch,  I  beg  to  refer 
the  reader  to  David,  although  his  exposition 
happens  to  be  presented  rather  in  the  form 
of  a  satire  on  the  subject.  Indeed,  David, 
while  rather  inclined  to  taciturnity,  was  an 
inveterate  jester,  and  what  few  remarks  he 


172  A  SWEAT-SHOP  ROMANCE 

indulged  in  during  his  work  would  often 
cause  boisterous  merriment  among  his  shop- 
mates,  although  he  delivered  them  with  a 
nonchalant  manner  and  with  the  same  look 
of  good-humored  irony,  mingled  in  strange 
harmony  with  a  general  expression  of  gruff- 
ness,  which  his  face  usually  wore. 

"  My  twelve  dollars  every  week  ?  "  David 
echoed.  "  Oh,  I  see ;  you  mean  a  week  of 
twelve  days  !  "  And  his  needle  resumed  its 
duck-like  sport  in  the  cloth. 

"  How  do  you  make  it  out  ?  "  Meyer  de 
manded,  in  order  to  elicit  a  joke  from  the 
witty  young  man  by  his  side. 

"  Of  course,  you  don't  know  how  to  make 
that  out.  But  ask  Heyman  or  Beile.  The 
three  of  us  do." 

"  Tell  him,  then,  and  he  will  know  too," 
Beile  urged,  laughing  in  advance  at  the 
expected  fun. 

A  request  coming  from  the  finisher  was 
—  yet  unknown  to  herself  —  resistless  with 
David,  and  in  the  present  instance  it  loos 
ened  his  tongue. 

"  Well,  I  get  twelve  dollars  a  week,  and 
Heyman  fourteen.  Now  a  working  week 
has  six  days,  but  —  hem  —  that  '  but '  gets 
stuck  in  my  throat  —  but  a  day  is  neither  a 


A   SWEAT-SHOP  ROMANCE  173 

• 

Sunday  nor  a  Monday  nor  anything  unless 
we  make  twelve  coats.  The  calendars  are  a 
lot  of  liars." 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  " 

"  They  say  a  day  has  twenty-four  hours. 
That 's  a  bluff.  A  day  has  twelve  coats."  * 

Beile's  rapturous  chuckle  whetted  his 
appetite  for  persiflage,  and  he  went  on :  — 

"  They  read  the  Tuesday  Psalm  in  the 
synagogue  this  morning,  but  I  should  have 
read  the  Monday  one." 

"Why?" 

"You  see,  Meyer's  wife  will  soon  come 
up  with  his  dinner,  and  here  I  have  still  two 
coats  to  make  of  the  twelve  that  I  got  yes 
terday.  So  it 's  still  Monday  with  me.  My 
Tuesday  won't  begin  before  about  two 
o'clock  this  afternoon." 

"  How  much  will  you  make  this  week  ?  " 
Meyer  questioned. 

"  I  don't  expect  to  finish  more  than  four 
days'  work  by  the  end  of  the  week,  and  will 
only  get  eight  dollars  on  Friday  —  that  is, 
provided  the  Missis  has  not  spent  our  wages 
by  that  time.  So  when  it 's  Friday  I  '11  call 
it  Wednesday,  see  ?  " 

"  When  I  am  married,"  he  added,  after  a 
pause,  "and  the  old  woman  asks  me  for 


174  A  BWEAT-BHOP  ROMANCE 

Sabbath  expenses,  I'll  tell  her  it  is  only 
Wednesday  —  it  isn't  yet  Friday  —  and  I 
have  no  money  to  give  her." 

David  relapsed  into  silence,  but  mutely 
continued  his  burlesque,  hopping  from  sub 
ject  to  subject. 

David  thought  himself  a  very  queer  fel 
low.  He  often  wondered  at  the  pranks 
which  his  own  imagination  was  in  the  habit 
of  playing,  and  at  the  grotesque  combina 
tions  it  frequently  evolved.  As  he  now 
stood,  leaning  forward  over  his  work,  he 
was  striving  to  make  out  how  it  was  that 
Meyer  reminded  him  of  the  figure  "  7." 

"  What  nonsense ! "  he  inwardly  exclaimed, 
branding  himself  for  a  crank.  "  And  what 
does  Heyman  look  like  ?  "  his  mind  queried, 
as  though  for  spite.  He  contemplated  the 
operator  askance,  and  ran  over  all  the  digits 
of  the  Arabic  system,  and  even  the  whole 
Hebrew  alphabet,  in  quest  of  a  counterpart 
to  the  young  man,  but  failed  to  find  anything 
suitable.  "  His  face  would  much  better  be 
come  a  girl,"  he  at  last  decided,  and  meu- 
tally  proceeded  to  envelop  Heyman's  head  in 
Beile's  shawl.  But  the  proceeding  somehow 
stung  him,  and  he  went  on  to  meditate  upon 
the  operator's  chunky  nose.  "  No,  that  nose 


A   SWEAT-SI/OP  ROMANCE  175 

is  too  ugly  for  a  girl.  It  wants  a  little 
planing.  It 's  an  unfinished  job,  as  it  were. 
But  for  that  nose  Heymau  would  really  be 
the  nice  fellow  they  say  he  is.  His  snow- 
white  skin  —  his  elegant  heavy  mustache 

yes,  if  he  did  not  have  that  nose  he  would 
be  all  right,"  he  maliciously  joked  in  his 
heart.  "  And  I,  too,  would  be  all  right  if 
Heyman  were  noseless,"  he  added,  transfer 
ring  his  thoughts  to  Beile,  and  wondering 
why  she  looked  so  sweet.  «  Why,  her  nose 
is  not  much  of  a  beauty,  either.  Entirely 
too  straight,  and  too  —  too  foolish.  Her 
eyes  look  old  and  as  if  constantly  on  the 
point  of  bursting  into  tears.  Ah,  but  then 
her  lips  —  that  kindly  smile  of  theirs,  com 
ing  out  of  one  corner  of  her  mouth  !  "  And 
a  strong  impulse  seized  him  to  throw  him 
self  on  those  lips  and  to  kiss  them,  which 
he  did  mentally,  and  which  shot  an  electric 
current  through  his  whole  frame.  And  at 
this  Beile's  old-looking  eyes  both  charmed 
and  pierced  him  to  the  heart,  and  her  nose, 
far  from  looking  foolish,  seemed  to  contem 
plate  him  contemptuously,  triumphantly,  and 
knowingly,  as  if  it  had  read  his  thoughts. 

While  this  was  going  on  in  David's  brain 
and  heart,  Beile  was  taken  up  with  Heyman 


176  A    BW  EAT -SHOP   ROMANCE 

and  with  their  mutual  relations.     His  atten 
tions  to  her  were  an  open  secret.     He  did 
not  go  out  of  his  way  to  conceal  them.     On 
the  contrary,  he  regularly  escorted  her  home 
after  work,  and  took  her  out  to  balls  and 
picnics  —  a  thing  involving  great  sacrifices 
to  a  fellow  who  trembled  over  every  cent 
he  spent,  and  who  was  sure  to  make  up  for 
these  losses  to  his  pocket-book  by  foregoing 
his  meals.     "While  alone  with    her   in  the 
hallway  of  her  mother's  residence,  his  voice 
would  become  so  tender,  so  tremulous,  and 
on  several  occasions  he  even  addressed  her 
by  the  endearing  form  of  Beilinke.     And 
yet  all  this  had  been  going  on  now  for  over 
three  months,  and  he  had  not  as  much  as 
alluded  to  marriage,  nor  even   bought  her 
the  most  trifling  present. 

Her  mother  made  life  a  burden  to  her,  and 
urged  the  point-blank  declaration  of  the  al 
ternative  between  a  formal  engagement  and 
an  arrest  for  breach  of  promise.  Beile  would 
have  died  rather  than  make  herself  the  hero 
ine  of  such  a  sensation  ;  and,  besides,  the 
idea  of  Heymaii  handcuffed  to  a  police  de 
tective  was  too  terrible  to  entertain  even  for 
a  moment. 

She  loved  him.     She  liked  his  blooming 


A    SWEAT-SHOP   ROMANCE  177 

face,  his  gentleman-like  mustache,  the  quaint 
jerk  of  his  head,  as  he  walked ;  she  was 
fond  of  his  company ;  she  was  sure  she 
was  in  love  with  him :  her  confidant,  her  fel 
low  country  girl  and  playmate,  who  had  re 
cently  married  Meyer,  the  presser,  had  told 
her  so. 

But  somehow  she  felt  disappointed.  She 
had  imagined  love  to  be  a  much  sweeter 
thing.  She  had  thought  that  a  girl  in  love 
admired  everything  in  the  object  of  her 
affections,  and  was  blind  to  all  his  faults. 
She  had  heard  that  love  was  something 
like  a  perpetual  blissful  fluttering  of  the 
heart. 

"  I  feel  as  if  something  was  melting  here," 
a  girl  friend  who  was  about  to  be  married 
once  confided  to  her,  pointing  to  her  heart. 
44  You  see,  it  aches  and  yet  it  is  so  sweet  at 
the  same  time."  And  here  she  never  feels 
anything  melting,  nor  can  she  help  disliking 
some  things  about  Heyman.  His  smile 
sometimes  appears  to  her  fulsome.  Ah, 
if  he  did  not  shut  his  eyes  as  he  does  when 
smiling !  That  he  is  so  slow  to  spend 
money  is  rather  one  of  the  things  she  likes 
in  him.  If  he  ever  marries  her  she  will  be 
sure  to  get  every  cent  of  his  wages.  But 


178  A   SWEAT-SHOP   ROMANCE 

then  when  they  are  together  at  a  ball  he 
never  goes  up  to  the  bar  to  treat  her  to  a 
glass  of  soda,  as  the  other  fellows  do  to  their 
girls,  and  all  he  offers  her  is  an  apple  or  a 
pear,  which  he  generally  stops  to  buy  on  the 
street  on  their  way  to  the  dancing-hall.  Is 
she  in  love  at  all  ?  Maybe  she  is  mistaken? 
But  no  !  he  is  after  all  so  dear  to  her.  She 
must  have  herself  to  blame.  It  is  not  in 
vain  that  her  mother  calls  her  a  whimper 
ing,  nagging  thing,  who  gives  no  peace  to 
herself  nor  to  anybody  around  her.  But 
why  does  he  not  come  out  with  his  declara 
tion  ?  Is  it  because  he  is  too  stingy  to  wish 
to  support  a  wife  ?  Has  he  been  making  a 
fool  of  her?  What  does  he  take  her  for, 
then  ? 

In  fairness  to  Heyman,  it  must  be  stated 
that  on  the  point  of  his  intentions,  at  least, 
her  judgment  of  him  was  without  foundation, 
and  her  misgivings  gratuitous.  Pecuniary 
considerations  had  nothing  to  do  with  his 
slowness  in  proposing  to  her.  And  if  she 
could  have  watched  him  and  penetrated  his 
mind  at  the  moments  when  he  examined  his 
bank-book,  —  which  he  did  quite  often,  —  she 
would  have  ascertained  that  litttle  images  of 
herself  kept  hovering  before  his  eyes  between 


A   SWEAT-SHOP   ROMANCE  179 

the  figures  of  its  credit  columns,  and  that  the 
sum  total  conjured  up  to  him  a  picture  of 
prospective  felicity  with  her  for  a  central 
figure. 

Poor  thing  ;  she  did  not  know  that  when 
ho  lingeringly  fondled  her  hand,  on  taking 
his  leave  in  the  hallway,  the  proposal  lay  on 
the  tip  of  his  tongue,  and  that  lacking  the 
strength  to  relievo  himself  of  its  burden  ho 
every  time  left  her,  consoling  himself  that 
the  moment  was  inopportune,  and  that  "  to 
morrow  he  would  surely  settle  it."  She  did 
not  know  that  only  two  days  ago  the  idea 
had  occurred  to  him  to  have  recourse  to  the 
aid  of  a  messenger  in  the  form  of  a  lady's 
watch,  and  that  while  she  now  sat  worrying 
lest  she  was  being  made  a  fool  of,  the  golden 
emissary  lay  in  Heyman's  vest-pocket,  throb 
bing  in  company  with  his  heart  with  im 
patient  expectation  of  the  evening  hour, 
which  had  been  fixed  for  the  delivery  of  its 


»«  I  shall  lot  mother  speak  to  him,"  Boilo 
resolved,  in  her  musings  over  her  needle. 
She  wont  on  to  picture  the  scene,  but  at  this 
point  her  meditations  were  suddenly  broken 
by  something  clutching  and  pulling  at  her 
Lair.  It  was  her  employer's  boy.  tie  had 


180  A   SWEAT-SHOP  ROMANCE 

just  got  up  from  his  after-dinner  nap,  and, 
for  want  of  any  other  occupation,  he  passed 
his  dirty  little  hand  into  her  raven  locks. 

"  He  is  practicing  to  be  a  boss,"  observed 
David,  whose  attention  was  attracted  to  the 
spectacle  by  the  finisher's  shriek. 

Beile's  voice  brought  Heyman  to  his  feet, 
and  disentangling  the  little  fellow's  fingers 
from  the  girl's  hair,  he  fell  to  "  plastering 
his  nasty  cheeks  for  him,"  as  he  put  it.  At 
this  juncture  the  door  opened  to  admit  the 
little  culprit's  father.  Heyman  skulked 
away  to  his  seat,  and,  burying  his  head  in 
his  work,  he  proceeded  to  drown,  in  the 
whir-r,  whir-r  of  his  machine,  the  screams 
of  the  boy,  who  would  have  struck  a  much 
higher  key  had  his  mamma  happened  on  the 
spot. 

Lipman  took  off  his  coat,  substituted  his 
greasy  velvet  skull-cap  for  his  derby,  and 
lighting  a  cigar  with  an  air  of  good-natured 
business-like  importance,  he  advanced  to 
Meyer's  corner  and  fell  to  examining  a 
coat. 

"And  what  does  "he  look  like?"  David 
asked  himself,  scrutinizing  his  task-master. 
"Like  a  broom  with  its  stick  downward," 
he  concluded  to  his  own  satisfaction.  "  And 


A    SWEAT-SHOP   ROMANCE  181 

his  snuff-box  ?  "  —  meaning  Lipman's  huge 
nose  —  "  A  perfect  fiddle !  —  And  his  mouth  ? 
Deaf-mutes  usually  have  such  mouths.  And 
his  beard  ?  He  has  entirely  too  much  of  it, 
and  it's  too  pretty  for  his  face.  It  must 
have  got  there  by  mistake." 

Presently  the  door  again  flew  open,  and 
Mrs.  Lipman,  heavily  loaded  with  parcels 
and  panting  for  breath,  came  waddling  in 
with  an  elderly  couple  in  tow. 

"  Greenhorns,"  Meyer  remarked.  "  Must 
be  fellow  townspeople  of  hers  —  lately  ar 
rived." 

"She  looks  like  a  tea-kettle,  and  she  is 
puffing  like  one,  too,"  David  thought,  after 
an  indifferent  gaze  at  the  newcomers,  look 
ing  askance  at  his  stout,  dowdyish  little 
"  Missis."  "  No,"  he  then  corrected  himself, 
"  she  rather  resembles  a  broom  with  its  stick 
out.  That's  it!  And  wouldn't  it  be  a 
treat  to  tie  a  stick  to  her  head  and  to  sweep 
the  floor  with  the  horrid  thing!  And  her 
mouth  ?  Why,  it  makes  me  think  she  does 
nothing  but  sneeze." 

"Here  is  Leizer!  Leizer,  look  at  the 
guests  I  have  brought  you  I "  Zlate  ex 
claimed,  as  she  threw  down  her  bundles. 
44  Be  seated,  Reb  Avrom ;  be  seated,  Basse. 


182  A  SWEAT-SHOP  ROMANCE 

This  is  our  factory,"  she  went  on,  with  a 
smile  of  mixed  welcome  and  triumph,  after 
the  demonstrative  greetings  were  over.  "  It 
is  rather  too  small,  is  n't  it  ?  but  we  are  going 
to  move  into  larger  and  better  quarters." 

Meyer  was  not  mistaken.  Zlate's  visitors 
had  recently  arrived  from  her  birthplace,  a 
poor  town  in  Western  Russia,  where  they 
had  occupied  a  much  higher  social  position 
than  their  present  hostess,  and  Mrs.  Lip- 
man,  coming  upon  them  on  Hester  Street, 
lost  no  time  in  inviting  them  to  her  house, 
in  order  to  overwhelm  them  with  her  Amer 
ican  achievements. 

"  Come,  I  want  to  show  you  my  parlor," 
Mrs.  Lipman  said,  beckoning  to  her  country 
people,  and  before  they  were  given  an  op 
portunity  to  avail  themselves  of  the  chairs 
which  she  had  offered  them,  they  were  towed 
into  the  front  room. 

When  the  procession  returned,  Leizer,  in 
obedience  to  an  order  from  his  wife,  took 
Reb  Avrom  in  charge  and  proceeded  to  ini 
tiate  him  into  the  secrets  of  the  "  American 
style  of  tailoring." 

"  Oh,  my ! "  Zlate  suddenly  ejaculated, 
with  a  smile.  "I  came  near  forgetting  to 
treat.  Beilke ! "  she  then  addressed  herself 


A   SWEAT-SHOP   ROMANCE  183 

to  the  finisher  girl  in  a  tone  of  imperious 
nonchalance,  "  here  is  a  nickel.  Fetch  two 
bottles  of  soda  from  the  grocery." 

"  Don't  go,  Beile  I "  David  whispered 
across  his  table,  perceiving  the  girl's  reluc 
tance. 

It  was  not  unusual  for  Beile  to  go  on  an 
errand  for  the  wife  of  her  employer,  though 
she  always  did  it  unwillingly,  and  merely 
for  fear  of  losing  her  place ;  but  then  Zlate 
generally  exacted  these  services  as  a  favor. 
In  the  present  instance,  however,  Beile  felt 
mortally  offended  by  her  commanding  tone, 
and  the  idea  of  being  paraded  before  the 
strangers  as  a  domestic  cut  her  to  the  quick, 
as  a  stream  of  color  rushing  into  her  face 
indicated.  Nevertheless  the  prospect  of 
having  to  look  for  a  job  again  persuaded 
her  to  avoid  trouble  with  Zlate,  and  she  was 
about  to  reach  out  her  hand  for  the  coin, 
when  David's  exhortation  piqued  her  sense 
of  self-esteem,  and  she  went  on  with  her 
sewing.  Heyman,  who,  being  interrupted  in 
his  work  by  the  visitor's  inspection,  was  a 
witness  of  the  scene,  at  this  point  turned  his 
face  from  it,  and  cringing  by  his  machine, 
he  made  a  pretense  of  busying  himself  with 
the  shuttle.  His  heart  shrank  with  the 


184  A  SWEAT-SHOP  ROMANCE 

awkwardness  of  his  situation,  and  he  ner 
vously  grated  his  teeth  and  shut  his  eyes, 
awaiting  still  more  painful  developments. 
His  veins  tingled  with  pity  for  his  sweet 
heart  and  with  deadly  hatred  for  David. 
What  could  he  do?  he  apologized  to  him 
self.  Is  n't  it  foolish  to  risk  losing  a  steady 
job  at  this  slack  season  on  account  of  such 
a  trifle  as  fetching  up  a  bottle  of  soda? 
What  business  has  David  to  interfere  ? 

"  You  are  not  deaf,  are  you  ?  I  say  go 
and  bring  some  soda,  quick  !  "  Mrs.  Lip- 
man  screamed,  fearing  lest  she  was  going 
too  far. 

"Don't  budge,  Beile ! "  the  baster 
prompted,  with  fire  in  his  eyes. 

Beile  did  not. 

"  I  say  go !  "  Zlate  thundered,  reddening 
like  a  beet,  to  use  a  phrase  in  vogue  with 
herself. 

"Never  mind,  Zlate,"  Basse  interposed, 
to  relieve  the  embarrassing  situation.  "  We 
just  had  tea." 

"Never  mind.  It  is  not  worth  the 
trouble,"  Avrom  chimed  in. 

But  this  only  served  to  lash  Zlate  into  a 
greater  fury,  and  unmindful  of  conse 
quences,  she  strode  up  to  the  cause  of  her 


A   SWEAT-SHOP  ROMANCE  185 

predicament,  and  tearing  the  coat  out  of  her 
hands,  she  squeaked  out :  — 

41  Either  fetch  the  soda,  or  leave  my  shop 
at  once ! " 

Heyman  was  about  to  say,  to  do  some 
thing,  he  knew  not  exactly  what,  but  his 
tongue  seemed  seized  with  palsy,  the  blood 
turned  chill  in  his  veins,  and  he  could  nei 
ther  speak  nor  stir. 

Leizer,  who  was  of  a  quiet,  peaceful  dis 
position,  and  very  much  under  the  thumb  of 
his  wife,  stood  nervously  smiling  and  toying 
with  his  beard. 

David  grew  ashen  p^le,  and  trembling 
with  rage  he  said  aloud  and  in  deliberate 
accents :  — 

"  Don't  mind  her,  Beile,  and  never  worry. 
Come  along.  I'll  find  you  a  better  job. 
This  racket  won't  work,  Missis.  Your 
friends  see  through  it,  anyhow,  don't  you  ?  " 
he  addressed  himself  to  the  newcomers. 
"  She  wanted  to  brag  to  you.  That 's  what 
she  troubled  you  for.  She  showed  off  her 
parlor  carpet  to  you,  did  n't  she  ?  But  did 
she  tell  you  that  it  had  been  bought  on  the 
installment  plan,  and  that  the  custom-ped 
dler  threatened  to  take  it  away  unless  she 
paid  more  regularly  ?  " 


186  A   8WEAT-8HOP  ROMANCE 

"  Leizer !  are  you  —  are  you  drunk  ?  " 
Mrs.  Lipman  gasped,  her  face  distorted  with 
rage  and  desperation. 

"  Get  out  of  here ! "  Leizer  said,  in  a 
tone  which  would  have  been  better  suited  to 
a  cordial  invitation. 

The  command  was  unnecessary,  however, 
for  by  this  time  David  was  buttoning  up  his 
overcoat,  and  had  his  hat  on.  Involuntarily 
following  his  example,  Beile  also  dressed  to 
go.  And  as  she  stood  in  her  new  beaver 
cloak  and  freshly  trimmed  large  old  hat  by 
the  side  of  her  discomfited  commander, 
Basse  reflected  that  it  was  the  finisher  girl 
who  looked  like  a  lady,  with  Zlate  for  her 
servant,  rather  than  the  reverse. 

"  See  that  you  have  our  wages  ready  for 
Friday,  and  all  the  arrears,  too !  "  was  Da 
vid's  parting  shot  as  the  two  left  the  room 
with  a  defiant  slaru  of  the  door. 

"  That 's  like  America !  "  Zlate  remarked, 
with  an  attempt  at  a  scornful  smile.  "  The 
meanest  beggar  girl  will  put  on  airs." 

"  Why  should  one  be  ordered  about  like 
that  ?  She  is  no  servant,  is  she  ?  "  Hey- 
man  murmured,  addressing  the  corner  of  the 
room,  and  fell  to  at  his  machine  to  smother 
his  misery. 


A   SWEAT-SHOP  ROMANCE  187 

When  his  day's  work  was  over,  Heyman's 
heart  failed  him  to  face  Beile,  and  although 
he  was  panting  to  see  her,  he  did  not  call  at 
her  house.  On  the  following  morning  he 
awoke  with  a  headache,  and  this  he  used  as 
a  pretext  to  himself  for  going  to  bed  right 
after  supper. 

On  the  next  evening  he  did  betake  him 
self  to  the  Division  Street  tenement  house, 
where  his  sweetheart  lived  with  her  mother 
on  the  top  floor,  but  on  coming  in  front  of 
the  building  his  courage  melted  away. 
Added  to  his  cowardly  part  in  the  memo 
rable  scene  of  two  days  before,  there  now 
was  his  apparent  indifference  to  the  finisher, 
as  manifested  by  his  two  evenings'  absence 
at  such  a  critical  time.  He  armed  himself 
with  a  fib  to  explain  his  conduct.  But  all 
in  vain ;  he  could  not  nerve  himself  up  to 
the  terrible  meeting.  And  so  day  aftor  day 
passed,  each  day  increasing  the  barrier  to 
the  coveted  visit. 

At  last,  one  evening,  about  a  fortnight 
after  the  date  of  Mrs.  Lipman's  fiasco,  Hey- 
man,  forgetting  to  lose  courage,  as  it  were, 
briskly  mounted  the  four  flights  of  stairs  of 
the  Division  Street  tenement.  As  he  was 
about  to  rap  for  admission  he  was  greeted 


188  A  SWEAT-SHOP  ROMANCE 

by  a  sharp  noise  within  of  something,  like  a 
china  plate  or  a  bowl,  being  dashed  to  pieces 
against  the  very  door  which  he  was  going  to 
open.  The  noise  was  followed  by  merry 
voices  :  "  Good  luck !  Good  luck  ! "  and 
there  was  no  mistaking  its  meaning.  There 
was  evidently  an  engagement  party  inside. 
The  Rabbi  had  just  read  the  writ  of  betroth- 
ment,  and  it  was  the  mutual  pledges  of  the 
contracting  parties  which  were  emphasized 
by  the  "  breaking  of  the  plate." 

Presently  Heyman  heard  exclamations 
which  dissipated  his  every  doubt  as  to  the 
identity  of  the  chief  actors  in  the  ceremony 
which  had  just  been  completed  within. 

"  Good  luck  to  you,  David !  Good  luck 
to  you,  Beile  !  May  you  live  to  a  happy  old 
age  together  !  "  "  Feige,  why  don't  you  take 
some  cake  ?  Don't  be  so  bashful !  "  "  Here 
is  luck ! "  came  through  the  door,  piercing 
a  muffled  hum  inside. 

Heyman  was  dumbfounded,  and  with 
his  head  swimming,  he  made  a  hasty  re 
treat. 

Ever  since  the  tragi-comical  incident  at 
Lipman's  shop,  Heyman  was  not  present  to 
Beile's  thoughts  except  in  the  pitiful,  cower 
ing  attitude  in  which  he  had  sat  through 


A   SWEAT-SHOP    ROMANCE  189 

that  awful  scene  by  his  machine.  She  was 
sure  she  hated  him  now.  And  yet  her  heart 
was,  during  the  first  few  days,  constantly 
throbbing  with  the  expectation  of  his  visit ; 
and  as  she  settled  in  her  mind  that  even  if 
he  came  she  would  have  nothing  to  do  with 
him,  her  deeper  consciousness  seemed  to 
say,  with  a  smile  of  conviction  :  "  Oh  no, 
you  know  you  would  not  refuse  him.  You 
would  n't  risk  to  remain  an  old  maid,  would 
you  ? "  The  idea  of  his  jilting  her  har 
rowed  her  day  and  night.  Did  he  avail 
himself  of  her  leaving  Lipman's  shop  to 
back  out  of  the  proposal  which  was  natu 
rally  expected  of  him,  but  which  he  never 
perhaps  contemplated  ?  Did  he  make  game 
of  her  ? 

When  a  week  had  elapsed  without  Hey- 
man's  putting  in  an  appearance,  she  deter 
mined  to  let  her  mother  see  a  lawyer  about 
breach-of-promise  proceedings.  But  an  im 
age,  whose  outlines  had  kept  defining  them 
selves  in  her  heart  for  several  days  past, 
overruled  this  decision.  It  was  the  image 
of  a  pluckier  fellow  than  Heyman  —  of  one 
with  whom  there  was  more  protection  in 
store  for  a  wife,  who  inspired  her  with  more 
respect  and  confidence,  and,  what  is  more, 


190  A  BWEAT-8HOP  ROMANCE 

who  seemed  on  the  point  of  proposing  to 
her. 

It  was  the  image  of  David.  The  young 
baster  pursued  his  courtship  with  a  quiet 
persistency  and  a  suppressed  fervor  which 
was  not  long  in  winning  the  girl's  heart. 
He  found  work  for  her  and  for  himself  in 
the  same  shop  ;  saw  her  home  every  evening ; 
regularly  came  after  supper  to  take  her  out 
for  a  walk,  in  the  course  of  which  he  would 
treat  her  to  candy  and  invite  her  to  a  coffee 
saloon,  —  a  thing  which  Heyman  had  never 
done ;  —  kept  her  chuckling  over  his  jokes  ; 
and  at  the  end  of  ten  days,  while  sitting  by 
her  side  in  Central  Park,  one  night,  he  said, 
in  reply  to  her  remark  that  it  was  so  dark 
that  she  knew  not  where  she  was  :  — 

"  I  '11  tell  you  where  you  are  —  guess." 

"  Where  ?  " 

"  Here,  in  my  heart,  and  keeping  me 
awake  nights,  too.  Say,  Beile,  what  have  I 
ever  done  to  you  to  have  my  rest  disturbed 
by  you  in  that  manner  ?  " 

Her  heart  was  beating  like  a  sledge-ham 
mer.  She  tried  to  laugh,  as  she  returned : — 

"  I  don't  know  —  You  can  never  stop 
making  fun,  can  you  ?  " 

"  Fun  ?     Do  you  want  me  to  cry  ?   I  will, 


A   SWEAT-SHOP  ROMANCE  191 

gladly,  if  I  only  know  that  you  will  agree  to 
have  an  engagement  party,"  he  rejoined, 
deeply  blushing  under  cover  of  the  dark 
ness. 

"  When  ? "  she  questioned,  the  word 
crossing  her  lips  before  she  knew  it. 

"  On  my  part,  to-morrow." 


CIRCUMSTANCES 


TATYANA  MARKOVNA  LURIE  had  just 
received  the  July  number  of  "  Russian 
Thought,"  and  was  in  a  flurry.  She  felt 
like  devouring  all  the  odd  dozen  of  articles 
in  the  voluminous  book  at  once;  and  the 
patience  failing  her  to  cut  the  leaves,  she 
fell  to  prying  between  them  on  the  rocking- 
chair  which  she  had  drawn  up  close  to  one 
of  the  two  windows  of  the  best  room. 

Altogether,  the  residence  of  the  Lnries 
consisted  of  three  small  uncarpeted  and 
scantily  furnished  apartments,  and  occupied 
a  fourth  of  the  top  floor  of  a  veteran  tene 
ment  house  on  Madison  Street. 

Ultimately,  Tatyana  Markovna  settled  on 
an  extensive  review  of  a  new  translation  of 
Guy  de  Maupassant's  stories.  But  here 
again  she  was  burning  to  glance  over  the 
beginning,  the  middle,  and  the  end  of  the 
article  simultaneously.  And  so  she  sat, 
feverishly  skipping  and  hopping  over  the 


CIRCUMSTANCES  193 

lines,  until  a  thought  expressed  by  the  critic, 
and  which  struck  her  as  identical  with  one 
she  had  set  forth  in  a  recent  discussion  with 
her  husband,  finally  fixed  her  attention  and 
overspread  her  youthful  little  face  with  radi 
ance.  She  was  forerelishing  her  triumph 
when,  upon  Boris's  return  from  work,  she 
would  show  him  the  passage  ;  for  in  their 
debate  he  had  made  light  of  her  contention, 
and  met  her  irresolute  demurrer  with  the 
patronizing  and  slightly  ironical  tone  which 
he  usually  took  while  discussing  book  ques 
tions  with  her. 

But  at  the  thought  of  Boris  she  suddenly 
remembered  her  soup,  and  growing  pale 
she  put  the  magazine  aside,  and  darted  into 
the  semi-obscurity  of  the  kitchen. 

Tatyana,  or  Tanya,  as  her  husband  would 
fondly  call  her,  was  the  daughter  of  a  mer 
chant  and  Hebrew  writer  in  Kieff,  who 
usually  lost  upon  his  literary  ventures  what 
he  would  save  from  his  business.  It  was 
not  long  after  she  had  graduated  from  one 
of  the  female  gymnasiums  of  her  native 
city  that  she  met  Boris  Lurie,  then  a  law 
student  at  the  University  of  St.  Vladimir. 

He  was  far  from  being  what  Russian  col 
lege  girls  would  call  "  a  dear  little  soul ;  " 


194  CIRCUMSTANCES 

for  he  was  tall  and  lank,  awkwardly  near 
sighted,  and  rather  plain  of  feature,  and  the 
scar  over  his  left  eyebrow,  too,  added  any. 
thing  but  beauty  to  his  looks.  But  for  all 
that,  the  married  young  women  of  his  circle 
voted  him  decidedly  interesting. 

Tanya  was  attracted  by  his  authoritative 
tone  and  rough  sort  of  impetuosity  upon 
discussing  social  or  literary  topics;  by  his 
reputation  of  being  one  of  the  best-read 
men  at  the  university,  as  well  as  a  leading 
spirit  in  student  "  circles,"  and  by  the  per 
fect  Russian  way  in  which  his  coal-black 
hair  fell  over  his  commanding  forehead. 
As  to  him,  he  was  charmed  by  that  In  her 
which  had  charmed  many  a  student  before 
him :  the  delicate  freshness  of  her  pink 
complexion,  which,  by  the  time  we  first  find 
her  in  the  Madison  Street  tenement,  had 
only  partially  faded ;  the  enthusiastic  smile 
beaming  from  her  every  feature  as  she 
spoke ;  and  the  way  her  little  nose,  the  least 
bit  retrousse,  would  look  upward,  and  her 
beautiful  hazel  eyes  would  assume  a  look  of 
childlike  curiosity,  while  she  was  listening 
to  her  interlocutor. 

They  were  married  immediately  after  his 
graduation,  with  the  intention  of  settling  in 


CIRCUMSTANCES  195 

Kremenchug,  where  he  had  every  prospect 
of  a  largo  practice.  But  when  he  presented 
himself  for  admission  to  the  bar,  as  a  "  pri 
vate  attorney,"  he  encountered  obstacle  after 
obstacle.  He  tried  another  district,  but  with 
no  better  success.  By  that  time  it  had  bo- 
come  clear  that  the  government  was  bent 
upon  keeping  the  Jews  out  of  the  foronsio 
profession,  although  it  had  not  officially 
placed  it  upon  the  list  of  vocations  pro 
scribed  to  their  race. 

After  a  year  of  peregrination  and  peti 
tioning  he  came,  a  bundle  of  nerves,  to  Jito- 
mir  to  make  a  last  attempt  in  the  province 
of  Volyn. 

A  high  judiciary  officer  who  received  him 
rather  politely,  made,  in  the  course  of  their 
interview,  tho  nomi-jocular  remark  that  the 
way  to  the  bar  lay  through  the  baptismal 
font. 

**  Villain!"  Lurie  thundered,  his  fists 
clenched  and  his  eyes  flashing. 

Luckily  the  functionary  was  a  cool-headed 
old  man  who  knew  how  to  avoid  unsavory 
publicity.  And  so,  when  Lurie  defiantly 
started  to  stalk  out  of  the  room,  he  was  not 
stopped. 

A  month  or  two  later,  Boris  and  Tanya 
arrived  in  New  York. 


196  CIRCUMSTANCES 

% 

II 

It  was  near  seven  o'clock  when  Boris 
came  from  the  pearl-button  factory  where  he 
earned,  at  piece-work,  from  six  to  seven 
dollars  a  week.  As  Tanya  heard  his  foot 
steps  through  the  door  she  sprang  to  her 
feet  and,  with  a  joyous  gleam  in  her  eye,  she 
ran  out  to  meet  him  at  the  head  of  the  stairs. 
In  her  delight  she  at  once  forgot  the  Mau 
passant  article. 

After  an  affectionate  greeting  she  said, 
with  burlesque  supplication :  — 

"  Don't  get  angry,  Borya,  but  I  am  afraid 
I  have  flunked  on  my  soup  again." 
"'His  fatigued  smile  expanded. 

"The  worst  of  it,"  she  pursued,  "is  the 
fact  that  this  time  my  negligence  resulted 
from  something  which  is  against  you.  Yes, 
I  have  got  something  that  will  show  you 
that  Mr.  Boris  has  not  monopolized  all  the 
wisdom  in  the  world ;  that  other  people  know 
something,  too.  Yes,  sir !  "  she  beamingly 
concluded,  in  English. 

"  You  must  have  received  the  July  num 
ber,  have  you  ?  "  he  burst  out,  flushing  with 
anticipated  delight. 

"  Not  your  booseeness  "    (business),  she 


CIRCUMSTAXCKS  197 

replied  in  English,  playfully  pronouncing 
the  words  as  in  Russian.  "  You  know  you 
can't  get  it  before  supper  is  over ;  so  what  is 
the  use  asking?"  she  added,  in  the  tongue  of 
her  native  country.  With  which  she  briskly 
busied  herself  about  the  table  and  the  stove, 
glowing  with  happiness,  every  inch  of  her  a 
woman  in  the  long-awaited  presence  of  the 
man  she  loves. 

Boris's  shabby  working  clothes,  his  few 
days'  growth  of  beard  and  general  appear 
ance  of  physical  exhaustion  vainly  combined, 
as  it  were,  to  extinguish  the  light  of  culture 
and  intellectuality  from  his  looks  ;  they 
only  succeeded  in  adding  the  tinge  of  martyr 
dom  to  them.  As  to  Tatyana,  she  had  got 
so  far  habituated  to  the  change  that  she  was 
only  occasionally  aware  of  it.  And  when 
she  was,  it  would  move  her  to  pity  and 
quicken  her  love  for  him.  At  such  moments 
his  poor  workaday  clothes  would  appear  to] 
her  as  something  akin  to  the  prison  garb  of  I 
the  exiled  student  in  Siberia. 

"  Let  me  just  take  a  glance  at  the  table 
of  contents,"  he  begged,  brokenly,  washing 
himself  at  the  sink. 

"  After  supper." 

"Then  do  you  tell  me  what  there  is  to 
read.  Anything  interesting  ?  " 


198  CIRCUMSTANCES 

"  After  supper." 

"  Or  is  it  that  you  begrudge  me  the  few 
minutes'  talk  we  have  together  ? "  she  re 
sumed  more  earnestly,  after  a  slight  pause. 
"  The  whole  day  I  am  all  alone,  and  when 
he  comes  he  plunges  into  some  book  or  other 
or  falls  asleep  like  a  murdered  man.  All 
there  remains  is  the  half  hour  at  supper ;  so 
that,  too,  he  would  willingly  deprive  me  of." 

It  was  Tanya's  standing  grievance,  and 
she  would  deliver  herself  of  it  on  the  slight 
est  provocation,  often  quite  irrelevantly. 

After  supper  she  read  to  him  the  passage 
which  she  regarded  as  an  indorsement  of  her 
view  upon  Maupassant.  When  she  had  fin 
ished  and  turned  to  him  a  face  full  of  tri 
umphant  inquiry,  she  was  rather  disappointed 
by  the  lukewarm  readiness  of  his  surrender. 

"Oh,  I  see.  It  is  rather  an  interesting 
point,"  he  remarked  lazily. 

He  was  reclining  on  the  stiff  carpet-cov 
ered  lounge  in  the  front  room,  while  she  was 
seated  in  the  rocker,  in  front  of  him.  It 
flashed  across  her  mind  that  such  unusual 
tractability  in  him  might  augur  some  con 
cession  to  be  exacted  from  her.  She  flew 
into  a  mild  little  passion  in  advance,  but 
made  no  inquiries,  and  only  said,  with  good- 
natured  sarcasm :  — 


CIRCUMSTANCES  199 

"  Of  course,  once  it  is  printed  in  *  Russian 
Thought/  it  is  *  rather  an  interesting  point,' 
but  when  it  was  only  Tanya  who  made  it, 
why  then  it  was  mere  rubbish." 

"  You  know  I  never  said  it  was  rubbish, 
Tanya,"  he  returned  deprecatingly. 

After  a  slight  pause,  he  resumed  list 
lessly  :  — 

•4  Besides,  I  am  sick  of  these  « interesting 
points.'  They  have  been  the  ruin  of  us, 
Tanychka ;  they  eat  us  up  alive,  these  '  in 
teresting  points '  —  the  deuce  grab  them.  If 
I  cared  less  about  '  interesting  points ' "  — 
he  articulated  the  two  words  with  venomous 
relish — "and  a  little  more  about  your  future 
and  mine,  I  might  not  now  have  to  stick  in 
a  button  factory." 

She  listened  to  him  with  an  amused  air, 
and  when  he  paused,  she  said  flippantly :  — 
"  We  have  heard  it  before." 
"  So  much  the  worse  for  both  of  us.     If 
you  at  least  took  a  more   sober  view   of 
things  I      Seriously,   Tanya,   you   ought  to 
make  life  a  burden  to  me  until  I  begin  to  do 
something  to  get  out  of  this  devilish  —  of 
this  villainous,  unpardonable  position." 

"You  should  have  married  Cecilia  Trotzky, 
then,"  she  said,  laughing. 


200  CIRCUMSTANCES 

Cecilia  Trotzky  was  the  virago  among 
the  educated  Kusso-Jewish  immigrants,  who 
form  a  numerous  colony  within  a  colony  in 
the  Ghetto  of  New  York.  She  was  described 
as  a  woman  who  had  placed  her  husband  in 
a  medical  college,  then  made  a  point  of  send 
ing  him  supperless  to  bed  every  time  he 
failed  to  study  his  lessons,  and  later,  when 
he  was  practicing,  fixed  the  fees  with  his 
patients. 

"'Well,  what  is  the  use  of  joking?"  he 
said  gloomily,  suppressing  a  smile.  "  Every 
illiterate  nonentity,"  he  went  on,  letting  the 
words  filter  through  his  teeth  with  languid 
bitterness,  "  every  shop  clerk,  who  at  home 
hardly  knew  there  was  such  a  thing  as  a 
university  in  the  world,  goes  to  college  here  ; 
and  I  am  serving  the  community  by  supply 
ing  it  with  pearl  buttons  for  six  dollars  a 
week.  Would  this  were  regular,  at  least ! 
But  it  is  not.  I  forgot  to  tell  you,  but  we 
may  again  have  a  slack  season,  Tanya.  Oh" ! 
I  will  not  let  things  go  on  like  this.  If  I 
don't  begin  to  do  something  at  once,  I  shall 
send  a  bullet  through  my  forehead.  You 
may  laugh,  but  this  time  it  is  not  idle  talk. 
From  this  day  on  I  shall  be  a  different  man. 
I  have  a  plan ;  I  have  considered  everything 


CIRCUMSTANCES  201 

carefully.  If  we  wish  to  get  rid  of  our  beg 
garly  position,  of  this  terrible  feeling  of  in 
security  and  need,"  he  proceeded,  as  he  raised 
himself  to  a  sitting  posture,  his  voice  gather 
ing  energy  and  his  features  becoming  con 
torted  with  an  expression  of  disgust ;  "  if  we 
really  mean  to  free  ourselves  from  this  con 
stant  trembling  lest  I  lose  my  job,  from 
these  excursions  to  the  pawn  shops  —  laugh 
away !  laugh  away !  —  but,  as  I  say,  if  we 
seriously  wish  to  make  it  possible  for  me  to 
enter  some  college  here,  we  must  send  all 
literature  and  magazines  and  all  gush  about 
Russia  to  the  deuce,  and  do  as  others  do.  I 
have  a  splendid  plan.  Everything  depends 
upon  you,  Tanya." 

At  this  the  childlike  look  of  curiosity 
came  into  her  face.  But  he  seemed  in  no 
hurry  to  come  to  the  point. 

"  People  who  hang  about  pawn  shops 
have  no  right  to  *  interesting  points '  and 
Guy  de  Maupassant  and  that  sort  of  luxury. 
Poverty  is  a  crime  I  Well,  but  from  now 
on,  everything  will  be  different.  Listen, 
Tanychka ;  the  greatest  trouble  is  the  rent, 
is  it  not?  It  eats  up  the  larger  part  of  my 
wages  —  that  is,  provided  I  work  full  time ; 
and  you  know  how  we  tremble  and  are  on 


202  CIRCUMSTANCES 

the  verge  of  insanity  each  time  the  first  of 
the  month  is  drawing  near.  If  we  wish  to 
achieve  something,  we  must  be  satisfied  to 
pinch  ourselves  and  to  put  up  with  some  in 
convenience.  Above  all,  we  must  not  forget 
that  I  am  a  common  workingman.  Well, 
every  workingman's  family  around  here 
keeps  a  boarder  or  two ;  let  us  also  take  one. 
There  is  no  way  out  of  it,  Tanya.'* 

He  uttered  the  concluding  words  with 
studied  nonchalance,  but  without  daring  to 
look  her  in  the  face. 

"  Bor-ya !  "  she  exclaimed,  with  a  bewil 
dered  air. 

Her  manner  angered  him. 

"  There,  now !  I  expected  as  much ! "  he 
said  irascibly.  And  continuing  in  softer  ac 
cents,  he  forced  her  to  listen  to  the  details 
of  his  project.  The  boarder's  pay  would 
nearly  come  up  to  their  rent.  If  they  lived 
more  economically  than  now  they  could  save 
up  enough  for  his  first  year's  tuition  at  a 
New  York  college,  or,  as  a  stepping-stone, 
for  a  newspaper  stand.  Free  from  worry 
about  their  rent,  he  would  be  in  a  fitter 
mood  to  study  English  after  work.  In 
course  of  time  he  would  know  the  language 
\  enough  to  teach  it  to  the  uneducated  work- 


CIRCUMSTANCES  203 

ingmen  of  the  Jewish  quarter ;  and  so  he 
would  be  liberated  from  his  factory  yoke,  as 
many  an  immigrant  of  his  class  had  been. 
Dalsky,  a  friend  of  theirs,  and  a  former 
classmate  of  Boris's,  who  was  studying  med 
icine,  earned  his  living  by  giving  such  les 
sons  in  English,  and,  by  the  way,  he  was 
now  looking  for  a  lodging.  Why  should 
they  not  offer  him  their  parlor?  They 
could  do  with  the  kitchen  and  the  bedroom. 
Besides,  Dalsky  would  be  one  of  the  family, 
and  would  have  only  partial  use  of  the  par 
lor. 

As  the  plan  assumed  a  personified  form 
in  her  mind  —  the  face  of  a  definite  boarder 
—  her  realization  of  its  horrors  was  so  keen 
that  she  shut  her  ears  and  begged  Boris  to 
take  pity  on  her  and  desist.  Whereupon 
he  flew  into  a  rage  and  charged  her  with 
nursing  aristocratic  instincts  which  in  their 
present  position  they  could  not  afford.  She 
retorted,  tearfully,  that  she  was  ready  to  put 
up  with  any  amount  of  additional  work  and 
discomfort,  but  that  she  did  not  care  to  have 
a  "constant  cataract  on  the  eye." 

"  God  knows  you  give  me  little  enough  of 
your  company,  as  it  is.  I  must  have  tired 
you  capitally,  if  you  seek  somebody  to  talk 


204  CIRCUMSTANCES 

to  and  to  save  you  from  being  alone  with 
me." 

"  You  know  it  is  the  rankest  nonsense  you 
are  saying !  "  he  flamed  out.  "  And  what  is 
the  use  crying  like  that?  As  if  I  took  a 
delight  in  the  whole  affair!  Cry  to  our 
circumstances,  not  to  me.  Circumstances, 
circumstances,  Tanya !  "  he  repeated,  with 
pleading  vehemence. 

Little  by  little  he  relented,  however,  and 
eventually  he  promised  never  to  mention 
the  matter  again,  although  inwardly  both  of 
them  felt  that  he  would.  He  sat  by  her 
side  on  the  lounge,  fondling  her  little  hands 
and  murmuring  love,  when  suddenly  bend 
ing  upon  him  an  imploriug  face,  she  said, 
in  a  tremulous,  tearful  voice :  "  Borinka, 

.  dear  !  I  shall  also  go  to  some  factory.  We 
will  get  along  without  boarders,"  with  which 
she  fell  upon  his  shoulder  in  a  fit  of  heart 
rending  sobbing. 

He  clasped  her  to  him,  whispering :  "  You 

i  know,  my  angel,  that  I  would  commit  sui 
cide  before  letting  you  go  to  work.  Don't 
worry,  my  joy,  we  will  get  along  without 
boarders." 

"  I  want  no  strangers  to  hang  around  the 
house  all  the  time;  I  want  to  be  with  you 


CIRCUUfSTANCES  205 

alone,  I  want  nobody,  nobody,  nobody  else 
in  the  world!"  she  said,  pressing  him  tightly 
to  her  heart. 


Ill 


On  the  following  evening,  as  Boris  was 
musingly  trudging  on  his  way  home,  after 
work,  it  suddenly  came  over  him  that  his 
manner  with  the  foreman  of  the  shop  was 
assuming  a  rather  obsequious  nature.    Work 
was  scarce,  and  the  distribution  of  it  was,  to 
a  considerable  extent,  a  matter  of  favoritism. 
He  recalled  how  the  Czech  foreman,  half 
tipsy  with  beer,  had  been  making  some  stu 
pid  efforts  at  being  witty,  and  how  he,  Boris 
Lurie,  standing  by,  in  greedy  expectation  of 
work,  had  smiled  a  broad,  ingratiating  smile 
of  approbation.    At  the  moment  he  had  been 
so  far  merged  in  the  surroundings  and  in 
his  anxiety  about  work  that  he  had  not  been 
aware  of  doing  anything  unnatural.  But  now, 
as  it  all  came  back  to  him,  with  inexorable 
vividness,  and  he  beheld  his  own  wretched, 
artificial  smile,  he  was  overcome  with  dis 
gust.     "  Vil-lain  I  "  he  broke  out  at  himself, 
gnashing  his  teeth ;  and  at  the  next  moment 
he  was  at  the  point  of  bursting  into  tears 
for  self-pity.    To  think  of  him,  who  had  not 


206  CIRCUMSTANCES 

hesitated  to  call  the  president  of  a  Russian 
court  "  rogue  "  to  his  face,  simpering  like  a 
miserable  time-server  at  every  stupidity  and 
nastiness  of  a  drunken  brute  !  Is  that  what 
circumstances  had  made  of  him  ? 

He  reached  home  out  of  temper,  and  be 
fore  supper  was  well  over  he  reopened  the 
discussion  of  his  scheme.  It  again  led  to  a 
slight  quarrel,  which  was  again  made  up  by 
his  surrender,  as  in  the  previous  instance. 

A  few  days  later  he  was  "  laid  off  "  for  a 
fortnight. 

To  eke  out  their  rent  they  had  to  forego 
meat.  For  several  consecutive  days  they 
lived  on  bread  and  butter  and  coffee.  Boris 
grew  extremely  nervous  and  .irritable. 

One  morning,  coming  back  from  the 
pawn  shops,  Boris,  pale  and  solemn,  quietly 
laid  on  the  kitchen  table  the  package  which 
he  had  under  his  arm. 

"  They  would  n't  take  it,"  he  said  almost 
in  a  whisper.  "  It  is  not  worth  anything, 
they  say." 

Tanya  only  raised  at  him  a  meek  glance, 
and  went  on  with  her  work.  Boris  fell  to 
pacing  the  front  room.  They  could  not 
speak. 

Presently  she  stepped  up  to  his  side  and 
said,  with  rueful  tenderness  :  — 


CIRCUMSTANCES  207 

"Well,  what  is  the  good  of  grieving, 
Borya?" 

Their  hands  clasped  tightly,  and  their 
eyes  fixed  themselves  forlornly  on  the  floor. 

"I  have  promised  Dalsky  an  answer," 
he  said,  after  a  little. 

"  Let  him  move  in,"  she  returned  lugu 
briously,  with  a  slight  shrug  of  her  shoulder, 
as  if  submitting  to  fate. 

IV 

It  was  about  nine  in  the  morning,  and 
Dalsky,  slowly  pacing  the  front  room,  "  Quiz- 
Compend  "  in  hand,  was  reviewing  his  les 
son.  He  had  a  certain  dignity  and  noble 
ness  of  feature  which  consorted  well  with 
the  mysterious  pallor  of  his  oval  face,  and 
to  which,  by  the  way,  his  moral  complexion 
gave  him  perfect  right.  Then,  too,  his  mid 
dle-sized  form  was  exceedingly  well  propor 
tioned.  But  for  the  rest,  his  looks,  like 
everything  else  about  him,  presented  nothing 
to  produce  an  impression. 

Presently  he  deliberately  closed  the  book, 
carefully  placed  it  on  his  whatnot,  and,  his 
eye  falling  upon  the  little  flower-pot  on 
the  window,  he  noiselessly  stepped  into  the 
kitchen,  where  Tanya  was  ironing  some 
trifles  on  the  dining-table. 


208  CIRCUMSTANCES 

"  What  are  you  looking  for,  Monsieur 
Dalsky  ?  "  she  inquired  amiably,  turning  her 
flushed  face  to  the  boarder,  who  was  then 
gazing  about  the  kitchen. 

"Nothing  —  do  not  trouble  yourself,  Ta- 
tyana  Markovua  —  I  have  got  it,"  he  an 
swered  politely,  resting  the  soft  look  of  his 
good  gray  eyes  at  her,  and  showing  the  en 
ameled  cup  which  he  was  carrying  to  the 
water-tap. 

44  It  is  high  time  to  give  my  flower-pot  its 
breakfast ;  it  must  have  grown  hungry,'*  he 
remarked  unobtrusively,  retracing  his  steps 
to  the  front  room,  with  the  cup  half  filled 
with  water. 

44  It  gets  good  board  with  you,  your  little 
flower-pot,"  Tanya  returned,  in  her  plaintive 
soprano,  speaking  through  the  open  window, 
which  sometimes  served  to  separate  and 
sometimes  to  connect  the  kitchen  and  the 
front  room.  44  By  the  way,  it  is  time  for  its 
master  to  have  its  breakfast  too.  Shall  I 
set  the  table,  Monsieur  Dalsky  ?  " 

44  All  rightissimo  !  "  answered  the  student 
jestingly,  with  the  remotest  suggestion  of  a 
chivalrous  smile  and  a  bow  of  his  head. 

As  he  ate,  she  made  a  playful  attempt  at 
reading  the  portly  text-book,  which  he  had 


CIRCUMSTANCES  209 

brought  with  him.  Whenever  she  happened 
to  mispronounce  an  English  word,  he  would 
set  her  right,  in  a  matter-of-fact  way  ;  where 
upon  she  accepted  his  correction  with  a 
slight  blush  and  a  smile,  somewhat  bashful 
and  somewhat  humorous. 

Hardly  a  fortnight  had  elapsed  since  Dai- 
sky  had  installed  himself  and  his  scanty 
effects  at  the  Luries',  yet  he  seemed  to  have 
grown  into  the  family,  and  the  three  felt  as 
if  they  had  dwelt  together  all  their  lives. 
His  presence  in  the  house  produced  a  change 
that  was  at  once  striking  and  imperceptible. 
When  free  from  college  and  from  teaching, 
an  hour  or  two  in  the  morning  and  a  few 
hours  during  the  afternoon,  he  would  stay 
at  home  studying  or  reading,  humming,  be 
tween  whiles,  some  opera  tune,  or  rolling  up 
a  cigarette  and  smoking  it  as  he  paced  up 
and  down  the  floor  —  all  of  which  he  did 
softly,  unobtrusively,  with  a  sort  of  pleas 
ing  fluency.  Often  he  would  bring  from 
the  street  some  useful  or  decorative  trifle 
—  a  match-box,  a  towel-ring,  a  bit  of  bric-a- 
brac  for  the  mantelpiece,  a  flower-pot.  At 
supper  he,  Boris  and  Tanya  would  have 
a  friendly  chat  over  the  contents  of  the 
newspapers,  or  the  gossip  of  the  colony, 


210  CIRCUMSTANCES 

or  some  Russian  book,  although  Boris  was 
apt  to  monopolize  the  time  for  his  animad 
versions  upon  the  occurrences  in  the  pearl- 
button  shop,  which  both  Tanya  and  Dalsky 
were  beginning  to  think  rather  too  minute 
and  uninteresting.  "  Poor  fellow  ;  the  pearl- 
button  environment  has  eaten  him  up,"  the 
medical  student  would  say  to  himself,  with 
heartfelt  commiseration.  As  to  his  own 
college,  he  would  scarcely  ever  refer  to  it. 
After  supper  he  usually  left  for  his  private 
lessons,  after  which  he  would  perhaps  drop 
in  at  the  Russian  Students'  Club ;  and  alto 
gether  his  presence  did  not  in  the  least  en 
croach  upon  the  privacy  of  the  Luries'  life, 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  it  seemed  to  have 
breathed  an  easier  and  pleasanter  atmo 
sphere  into  their  home. 

"  Well,  was  there  any  ground  for  making 
so  much  ado  ?  "  Boris  once  said  triumphantly. 
"  We  are  as  much  alone  as  ever,  and  you 
are  not  lonely  all  day,  into  the  bargain." 

Dalsky  had  come  to  America  with  the 
definite  purpose  of  studying  and  then  prac 
ticing  medicine.  He  had  landed  penniless, 
yet  in  a  little  over  two  years,  and  before  his 
friends  in  the  colony  had  noticed  it,  he  was 


CIRCUMSTANCES  211 

in  a  position  to  pay  his  first  year's  tuition 
and  to  meet  all  the  other  bills  of  his  hum 
ble,  but  well  ordered  and,  to  him,  gratifying 
living. 

He  was  a  normally  constituted  and  well- 
regulated  young  man  of  twenty-five,  a  year 
or  two  Lurio'a  junior,  There  was  nothing 
bright  nor  deep  about  him,  but  ho  was  sel 
dom  guilty  of  n.  gross  want  of  tact.  Ho 
would  bo  the  last  man  to  neglect  his  task 
on  account  of  a  ball  or  an  interesting  book, 
yet  he  was  never  classed  among  the  "  grinds." 
lie  was  endowed  with  a  light  touch  for 
tiling*  an  wull  us  for  men,  and  with  that 
faculty  for  ranking  high  in  his  c-lafw,  which, 
as  wo  all  know,  does  not  always  precede  dis 
tinction  in  the  school  of  life.  This  sort  of 
people  givo  the  world  very  little,  ask  of  it 
still  less,  but  get  more  than  they  give. 

As  ho  neither  intruded  too  far  into  other 
people's  souls,  nor  allowed  others  too  deep 
into  his  own  confidence,  ho  was  at  poaco 
with  himftolf  and  everybody  oUo  in  tlio 

colony. 

V 

Three  months  more  had  passed.  The 
button  factory  was  busy.  Boris's  hard,  un 
congenial  toil  was  deepening  its  impress 


212  CIRCUMSTANCES 

upon  him.  When  he  came  from  work  he 
would  be  so  completely  fagged  out  that  an 
English  grammar  was  out  of  the  question. 

He  grew  more  morose  every  day. 

Tanya  was  becoming  irritable  with  him. 

One  afternoon  after  six  she  was  pensively 
rocking  and  humming  a  Russian  folk-song, 
one  of  her  little  white  hands  resting  on  an 
open  Russian  book  in  her  lap.  Dalsky  was 
out,  for  it  was  one  of  those  days  when  he 
would  stay  at  college  until  six  and  come 
home  at  about  the  same  time  as  Boris. 

Presently  she  was  awakened  from  her 
reverie  by  the  sound  of  footsteps.  The 
door  opened  before  she  had  time  to  make 
out  whose  they  were,  and  as  her  eye  fell 
upon  Boris,  a  shadow  of  disappointment 
flitted  across  her  brow. 

Still,  at  the  sight  of  his  overworked  face, 
her  heart  was  wrung  with  pity,  and  she 
greeted  him  with  a  commiserating,  nervous, 
exaggerated  sort  of  cordiality. 

After  a  little  he  took  to  expounding  a 
plan,  bearing  upon  their  affairs,  which  he 
had  conceived  while  at  work.  She  started 
to  listen  with  real  interest,  but  her  atten 
tion  soon  wandered  away,  and  as  he  went  on 
she  gazed  at  him  blankly  and  nodded  irrele 
vant  assent. 


CIR  C  UMS  TA  NCES  213 

44  What  is  the  use  of  talking,  since  you 
are  not  listening  anyway?"  he  said,  mildly. 

She  was  about  to  say  softly,  "  Excuse  me, 
Borya,  say  it  again,  I  '11  listen,"  but  she 
said  resentfully,  "  Suit  yourself !  " 

His  countenance  fell. 

"  Any  letters  from  home  ?  "  he  demanded, 
after  a  while,  to  break  an  awkward  stillness. 

"  No,"  she  replied,  with  an  impatient  jerk 
of  her  shoulder. 

He  gave  a  perplexed  shrug,  and  took  up 
his  grammar. 

When  Dalsky  came  he  found  them  plainly 
out  of  sorts  with  each  other.  Tanya  returned 
his  "  Good  health  to  you,"  only  partly  re 
laxing  the  frown  on  her  face.  Boris  raised 
his  black  head  from  his  book ;  his  brusque 
*  Good  health,  Dalsky  I "  had  scarcely  left 
his  lips  when  his  short-sighted  eyes  again 
nearly  touched  the  open  grammar. 

44  You  must  excuse  me ;  I  am  really  sorry 
to  have  kept  you  waiting,"  the  boarder  apol 
ogized,  methodically  taking  off  his  overcoat 
and  gently  brushing  its  velvet  collar  before 
hanging  it  up,  44  but  I  was  unavoidably  de 
tained  at  the  lecture,  and  then  I  met  Stern, 
and  you  know  how  hard  it  is  to  shake  one 
self  free  from  him." 


214  CIRCUMSTANCES 

"  It  is  not  late  at  all,"  Tanya  observed, 
unnecessarily  retaining  a  vestige  of  the 
cloud  upon  her  countenance.  "  What  does 
he  want,  Stern  ?  Some  new  scheme  again  ?  " 

"  You  hit  it  there,  Tatyana  Markovna ; 
and,  by  the  way,  you  two  are  to  play  first 
violin  in  it." 

kt  I  ?  "  asked  Tanya,  her  countenance  sud 
denly  blazing  up  with  confused  animation. 
"What  is  it?"  Boris  laid  down  his  book 
and  pricked  up  his  ears. 

"  He  has  unearthed  some  remarkable  dia 
logue  in  Little  Russian,  — you  know  every 
thing  Stern  comes  across  is  remarkable. 
Well,  and  he  wants  the  two  of  you  to  recite 
it  or  act  it  —  that 's  your  business  —  at  the 
New  Year's  gathering." 

"  What  an  idiotic  plan !  "  was  Boris's 
verdict,  which  his  countenance  belied  un 
ceremoniously. 

"  Who  else  is  going  to  participate  ?  "  in 
quired  Tanya. 

Fixing  his  mild  gray  eyes  on  his  youthful 
landlady,  Dalsky  proceeded  to  describe  the 
prospective  entertainment  in  detail.  Pre 
sently  he  grew  absent-minded  and  lost  the 
thread  of  a  sentence.  He  noticed  that,  as 
his  listener's  eyes  met  his,  her  gaze  became 


CIRCUMSTANCES  215 

unsteady,   wandering,   as  though  she  were 
looked  out  of  countenance. 

She  confusedly  transferred  her  glance  to 
his  fresh,  clean-shaven  face  and  then  to 
his  neatly  tied  scarf  and  immaculate  shirt 
front. 

Boris  wore  a  blue  flannel  shirt,  and,  as 
usual  in  the  middle  of  the  week,  his  face 
was  overgrown  with  what  he  jocosely  called 
underbrush.  As  he  had  warmed  up  to  Dai- 
sky's  subject  and  rose  to  his  feet  to  ply  him 
with  questions,  the  contrast  which  the  broad, 
leaf-shaped  gas  flame  illuminated  was  strik 
ing.  It  was  one  between  a  worn,  wretched 
workingman  and  a  trim,  fresh-looking  col 
lege  student. 

Supper  passed  in  animated  conversation, 
as  usual.  When  it  was  over  and  the 
boarder  was  gone  to  his  pupils,  Boris,  reclin 
ing  on  the  lounge,  took  up  his  "  Doinbey  and 
Son  "  and  Alexandroff's  Dictionary.  In  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  he  was  fast  asleep  and 
snoring.  It  attracted  the  attention  of 
Tanya,  who  sat  near  by,  reading  her  Rus 
sian  novel.  She  let  the  book  rest  on  her 
lap  and  fell  to  contemplating  her  husband. 
His  sprawling  posture  and  his  snores  at  once 
revolted  her  and  filled  her  with  pity.  She 


216  CIRCUMSTANCES 

looked  at  the  scar  over  his  eyebrow,  and  it 
pained  her ;  and  yet,  somehow,  she  could  not 
divert  her  eyes  from  it.  At  the  same  time 
she  felt  a  vague  reminiscence  stirring  in  her 
mind.  What  was  it  ?  She  seemed  to  have 
seen  or  heard  or  read  something  somewhere 
which  had  a  certain  bearing  upon  the  pain 
ful  feeling  which  she  was  now  nursing,  in 
spite  of  herself,  as  she  was  eyeing  the  scar 
over  Boris's  eyebrow.  What  could  it  be  ? 
A  strenuous  mental  effort  brought  to  her 

O 

mind  the  passage  in  Tolstoi's  novel  where 
Anna  Karenina,  after  having  fallen  under 
Vrousky's  charm,  is  met  by  her  husband 
upon  her  return  to  St.  Petersburg,  where 
upon  the  first  thing  that  strikes  her  about 
him  is  the  uncouth  hugeness  of  his  ears. 

It  was  not  the  first  time  her  thoughts  had 
run  in  this  direction.  She  had  repeatedly 
caught  herself  dwelling  upon  such  appar 
ently  silly  subjects  as  the  graceful  trick 
which  Dulsky  had  in  knocking  off  the  ashes 
of  his  cigarette,  or  the  way  he  would  look 
about  the  cupboard  for  the  cup  with  which 
he  watered  his  plant,  or,  again,  the  soft  ring 
of  his  voice  as  he  said,  "Tatyana  Mar- 
kovna  !  "  —  the  thoroughly  Russian  form  of 
address,  not  much  in  vogue  in  the  colony. 


CIRCUMSTANCES  217 

Once,  upon  touching  his  flower  on  the  win 
dow  sill,  she  became  conscious  of  a  thrill, 
deliciously  disquieting  and  as  if  whispering 
something  to  her.  And  yet,  as  the  case  of 
Anna  Karenina  now  came  to  her  mind,  as 
an  illustration  of  her  own  position,  it  smote 
her  consciousness  as  a  startling  discovery. 

"  And  so  I  am  a  married  woman  in  love 
with  another  man  !  "  was  her  first  thought ; 
and  with  her  soul  divided  between  a  be 
numbing  terror  and  the  sweet  titillation  pro 
duced  by  a  sense  of  tasting  forbidden  fruit, 
she  involuntarily  repeated  the  mental  excla 
mation  :  — 

"  Yes,  I  am  a  married  woman  in  love  with 
another  man !  " 

And  with  a  painful,  savage  sort  of  relish 
she  went  on  staring  at  her  husband's  scar 
and  listening  to  his  fatigued  breathing. 
There  was  a  moment  when  a  wave  of  sym 
pathy  suddenly  surged  to  her  heart  and 
nearly  moved  her  to  tears ;  but  at  the  next 
moment  it  came  back  to  her  that  it  was  at 
Boris's  insistence,  and  in»  spite  of  her  sobs, 
that  the  boarder  had  been  taken  into  the 
house  ;  whereupon  her  heart  swelled  with  a 
furious  sense  of  revenge.  The  image  of 
Dalsky  floated  past  her  mental  vision  and 


218  CIRCUMSTANCES 

agitated  her  soul  with  a  novel  feeling. 
When  a  moment  or  two  after  she  threw  a 
glance  at  the  looking-glass  she  seemed  a 
stranger  to  herself. 

"  Is  this  Tanya  ?  Is  this  the  respectable, 
decorous  young  woman  that  she  has  been  ?  " 
she  seemed  to  soliloquize.  "  What  nonsense ; 
why  not?  What  have  I  done?  Dalsky 
himself  does  not  even  suspect  anything." 
It  seemed  as  if  she  were  listening  to  the 
depth  of  her  own  soul  for  a  favorable  an 
swer  to  her  question,  and  as  if  the  favorable 
answer  did  not  come. 

She  became  fearful  of  herself,  and,  with 
another  sudden  flow  of  affection  for  her  hus 
band,  she  stepped  up  to  his  side  to  wake 
him ;  but  as  she  came  into  close  contact 
with  him,  the  wave  of  tenderness  ebbed 
away  and  she  left  the  room. 

"  It  is  nonsense,"  she  decided ;  "  still,  I 
must  invent  some  pretext  for  insisting  upon 
his  removal.  Then  I  '11  forget  him,  any 
way." 

Whether  she  would  have  had  the  courage 
to  carry  out  her  resolve  or  not,  is  not  known, 
for  the  task  soon  became  superfluous. 

A  few  days  later,  as  Dalsky  was  drawing 
on  his  overcoat  to  leave  for  his  lessons,  he 


CIRCUMSTANCES  219 

said,  rather  awkwardly,  addressing  himself 
to  both,  while  looking  at  Boris :  — 

"By  the  way,  I  have  to  tell  you  some 
thing.  I  am  afraid  that  devilish  college 
will  make  it  impossible  for  me  to  live  down 
town." 

Both  Boris  and  Tanya  grew  pale. 

"You  see,"  Dalsky  pursued,  "the  lec 
tures  and  the  work  in  the  dissecting-room 
are  so  scattered  throughout  the  day  that  I 
don't  see  my  way  out  unless  I  get  a  room  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  college."  And  to 
talk  himself  out  of  the  embarrassing  posi 
tion,  he  went  on  to  explain  college  affairs 
with  unnecessary  detail. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  his  whole 
explanation,  although  not  based  on  an  un 
truth,  was  not  the  real  cause  of  his  deter 
mination  to  leave  the  Luries.  He  had 
known  Boris  in  his  better  days,  and  now 
sympathized  with  him  and  Tanya  keenly. 
The  frequent  outbreaks  of  temper  between 
husband  and  wife,  and  the  cloud  which 
now  almost  constantly  hung  over  the  house, 
heavily  bore  down  upon  him  as  a  friend, 
and  made  his  life  there  extremely  uncom 
fortable.  At  last  he  had  perceived  the  rov 
ing,  nonplussed  look  in  her  eyes  as  their 


220  CIRCUMSTANCES 

glances  met.  Once  become  observant  in 
this  direction.,  he  noticed  a  thousand  and 
one  other  little  things  which  seemed  to  con 
firm  his  suspicion.  "  Can  it  be  that  she  i» 
interested  in  me  ?  "  he  said  to  himself.  Fo:» 
a  moment  the  thought  caressed  his  vanity 
and  conjured  up  the  image  of  Tanya  in  a 
novel  aspect,  which  lured  him  and  spoke  of 
the  possibility  of  reciprocating  her  feeling 
—  of  an  adventure. 

It  was  on  the  very  next  day  that  he 
announced  his  intention  to  move. 

VI 

The  house  became  so  dreary  to  Tanya 
that  her  loneliness  during  the  day  fright 
ened  her,  though  the  presence  of  Boris 
irritated  her  more  than  ever.  She  felt  as 
if  some  member  of  the  household  had  died. 
Wherever  she  turned  she  beheld  some  trace 
of  the  student;  worse  than  anything  else 
was  the  window-plant,  which  Dalsky  had 
left  behind  him.  She  avoided  looking  at  it, 
lest  it  should  thrill  her  with  a  crushing  sense 
of  her  desolation,  of  her  bereavement,  as  it 
were.  Yet,  when  siie  was  about  to  remove 
it,  she  had  not  the  heart  to  do  it.  She 
strayed  about  like  a  shadow,  and  often  felt 


CIRCUMSTANCES  221 

as  though  it  were  enough  to  touch  her  to 
make  her  melt  away  in  tears. 

One  evening,  after  an  unbearable  silence, 
succeeding  a  sharp  altercation,  Boris  asked, 
pleadingly  :  — 

"What  has  become  of  you,  Tanya?  I 
simply  fail  to  recognize  you." 

"  If  you  understand,  then  it  is  foolish  to 
ask,"  she  retorted,  with  a  smile  of  mild  sar 
casm,  eyeing  the  floor. 

"I  understand  nothing."  But  as  the 
words  left  his  lips,  something  suddenly 
dawned  upon  him  which  made  his  blood 
run  cold.  An  array  of  situations  which 
had  produced  an  impression  upon  him,  but 
which  had  been  lost  upon  his  consciousness, 
now  uprose  in  his  mind.  He  grew  ashen 
pale. 

"Well,  so  much  the  worse,"  said  she. 

"  Tell  me,  and  I  will  know,"  he  rejoined, 
with  studied  irony,  while  in  his  heart  he 
was  graying  Heaven  that  his  misgivings 
might  prove  baseless. 

"  Oh !  I  think  you  do  understand  ;  you 
are  not  so  blind."  Her  voice  now  sounded 
alien  in  his  ears,  and  she  herself  seemed  to 
him  suddenly  changed  —  as  if  she  had  in 
one  moment  become  transmuted  into  an 


222  CIRCUMSTANCES 

older,   wiser,   sterner,  and  more  beautiful, 
fiercely  beautiful,  woman. 

"  I  swear  to  you  that  I  do  not  know  any 
thing." 

"  Very  well,  then  ;  I  shall  write  it,"  she 
said,  with  a  sudden  determination,  rising  to 
produce  paper,  pen,  and  ink. 

"  All  right,"  he  said,  in  abject  cowardice, 
with  a  meaningless  smile. 

She  wrote :  — 

"  I  am  your  best  friend  in  the  world.  I 
have  been  thinking,  and  thinking,  and  have 
arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  the  best  thing 
for  us  to  do  is  to  part  for  a  time.  I  do  not 
blame  anybody  but  myself,  but  I  cannot 
help  it.  I  have  no  moral  right  to  live 
with  you  as  long  as  my  mind  is  constantly 
occupied  with  somebody  else.  I  have  strug 
gled  hard  to  keep  out  the  thoughts  of  him, 
but  it  is  of  no  avail." 

The  phlegmatic  ticking  of  the  cheap 
alarm  clock  was  singing  a  solemn  accom 
paniment  to  the  impressive  stillness  of  the 
surroundings.  Boris,  gazing  at  the  corner 
of  the  room  with  a  faint,  stolid  smile,  was 
almost  trembling.  Tanya's  face  was  burn 
ing  with  excitement.  She  went  on :  — 
"  I  repeat,  I  have  only  myself  to  blame, 


CIRCUMSTANCES  223 

and  I  am  doing  my  best  to  struggle  out  of 
this  state  of  mind.     But  while  it  lasts,  my 
false,  my   dishonest  position  in  this  house 
aggravates  things.     I  wish  to  be  alone,  for 
a  while,  at  least.     Then,  under  new  condi 
tions,  I  hope  I  shall  soon  get  over  it.     For 
the  sake  of  everything  that  is  good,  do  not 
attempt  to  persuade  me  to  stay.     It  is  all 
thought  out  and  decided.     Nor  do  you  need 
offer  to  support  me.     I  have  no  right  to  it, 
and  will  not  accept  it  under  any  circum 
stances.      I   can   work   and   earn    my   own 
living.     I  am   prepared  to  bear  the  cross. 
Besides,  shall  I  be  the  only  Russian  college 
woman  to  work  in  an  American  factory? 
Above  all,  do  not  let  anybody   know  any 
thing  —  the  person  to  whom  I  have  referred 
not  excluded,  of  course.     I  am  sure  he  does 
not  suspect  anything.     Do  not  let  him  sur 
mise  the  cause  of  it  all,  if  you  do  not  wish 
to  see   my  corpse.     We   can   invent   some 
explanation." 

VII 

It  was  the  early  part  of  a  bleak  wintry 
evening.  The  interior  of  Silberman's  shop, 
crowded  with  men  and  women  and  their 
sewing-machines,  every  bit  of  space  truckled 


224  CIRCUMSTANCES 

up  with  disorderly  piles  of  finished  shirts 
or  bundles  of  stuff,  was  dappled  with  cheer 
less  gaslight.  The  spacious,  barn-like  loft 
rang  and  trembled  with  a  chaos  of  mourn 
ful  and  merry  song,  vying  with  the  insolent 
rattle  of  the  machines.  There  were  syna 
gogue  airs  in  the  chorus  and  airs  of  the 
Jewish  stage;  popular  American  airs,  airs 
from  the  dancing  schools,  and  time-honored 
airs  imported  from  Russia,  Poland,  Galicia, 
Roumania,  Hungary. 

Only  Tanya  was  not  singing.  Bent  upon 
her  machine,  in  a  remote  corner,  she  was 
practicing  a  straight  stitch  upon  some  cut 
tings.  She  was  making  marked  progress, 
and,  flushed  with  her  success,  had  almost 
grown  oblivious  of  the  heavy  lump  at  her 
heart,  and  the  pricking  pain  which  seemed  to 
fill  her  every  limb.  Presently  the  girl  next 
her,  who  had  been  rapturously  singing  "  I 
have  a  girl  in  Baltimore  "  in  a  sort  of  cross- 
tune  between  the  song's  own  melody  and  the 
highly  melancholy  strains  of  a  Hebrew 
prayer,  suddenly  switched  off  into  one  of 
the  most  Russian  of  Russian  folk-songs,  — 

"  By  the  little  brook, 
By  the  little  bridge, 
Grass  was  growing  " 


CIRCUMSTANCES  225 

This  she  sang  with  such  an  im-Russian 
flavor,  and  pronounced  the  words  with  such 
a  strong  Yiddish  accent,  and  so  illiterately, 
that  Tanya  gnashed  her  teeth  as  if  touched 
to  the  quick,  and  closed  her  eyes  and  ears. 
The  surroundings  again  grew  terrible  to 
her.  Commencement  Day  at  the  Kieff 
Gymnasium  loomed  before  her  imagination, 
and  she  beheld  herself  one  of  a  group  of 
blooming  young  maidens,  all  in  fresh  brown 
dresses  with  black  aprons,  singing  that  very 
song,  but  in  sturdy,  ringing,  charming  Rus 
sian.  A  cruel  anguish  choked  her.  Every 
body  and  everything  about  her  was  so 
strange,  so  hideously  hostile,  so  exile-like  I 
She  once  more  saw  the  little  home  where 
she  had  recently  reigned.  "  How  do  I  hap 
pen  here  ?  "  she  asked  herself.  She  thought 
of  Boris,  and  was  tempted  to  run  back  to 
him,  to  fly  into  his  arms  and  beg  him  to  es 
tablish  a  home  again.  But  presently  came 
the  image  of  Dalsky,  neat,  polite,  dignified, 
and  noiseless  ;  and  she  once  more  fell  to 
her  machine,  and  with  a  furious  cruelty  for 
herself,  she  went  on  working  the  treadle. 
Whereupon  her  mind  gradually  occupied 
itself  with  the  New  Year's  entertainment, 
with  the  way  the  crowd  would  be  comment- 


226  CIRCUMSTANCES 

ing  upon  her  separation,  and  above  all,  with 
her  failure  to  appear  on  the  platform  to  re 
cite  in  Little  Russian  and  to  evoke  a  storm 
of  applause  in  the  presence  of  Dalsky. 

At  that  time  Boris  was  on  his  way  from 
work,  in  the  direction  of  Madison  Street. 
It  was  the  second  day  after  he  had  cleared 
the  rooms  by  selling  the  furniture  and  cook 
ing  utensils  to  the  neighbors,  who  rushed  at 
them  like  flies  at  a  drop  of  molasses.  But 
he  still  had  his  books  and  some  other  effects 
to  remove.  When  he  entered  the  rooms, 
there  was  light  enough  from  the  street  to 
show  the  unwonted  darkness  in  them.  A 
silvery  streak  fell  upon  the  black  aperture 
which  had  the  day  before  been  filled  with 
the  pipe  of  a  little  parlor  stove.  This  and 
the  weird  gloom  of  the  rest  of  the  apartment 
overwhelmed  him  with  distress  and  terror. 
He  hastened  to  light  the  gas.  The  dead 
emptiness  of  the  three  rooms  which  so  re 
cently  had  been  full  of  life,  the  floors  lit 
tered  with  traces  of  Tanya  and  their  life 
together  —  every  corner  and  recess  had  a 
look  of  doleful,  mysterious  reproach. 

For  the  first  time  he  seemed  to  realize 
what  had  befallen  him ;  and  for  the  first 
time  in  many  years  he  burst  into  tears. 


CIRCUMSTANCES  227 

Hot  tears  they  were,  and  they  fell  in  vehe 
ment  drops,  as,  leaning  his  wearied  form 
against  the  door-post  and  burying  his  face 
in  his  arm,  he  whispered  brokenly,  **Ta- 
nyohka!  Tanyohka!" 


A  GHETTO  WEDDING 

HAD  you  chanced  to  be  in  Grand  Street 
on  that  starry  February  night,  it  would 
scarcely  have  occurred  to  you  that  the  Ghetto 
was  groaning  under  the  culmination  of  a 
long  season  of  enforced  idleness  and  distress. 
The  air  was  exhilaratingly  crisp,  and  the 
glare  of  the  cafes  and  millinery  shops  flooded 
it  with  contentment  and  kindly  good  will. 
The  sidewalks  were  alive  with  shoppers  and 
promenaders,  and  lined  with  peddlers. 

Yet  the  dazzling,  deafening  chaos  had 
many  a  tale  of  woe  to  tell.  The  greater 
part  of  the  surging  crowd  was  out  on  an 
errand  of  self-torture.  Straying  forlornly 
by  inexorable  window  displays,  men  and 
women  would  pause  here  and  there  to  in 
dulge  in  a  hypothetical  selection,  to  feast  a 
hungry  eye  upon  the  object  of  an  imaginary 
purchase,  only  forthwith  to  pay  for  die  mo 
mentary  joy  with  all  the  pangs  of  awaken 
ing  to  an  empty  purse. 

Many  of  the  peddlers,  too,  bore  piteous 


.4    GHETTO    WEDDING  229 

testimony  to  the  calamity  which  was  then 
preying  upon  the  quarter.  Some  of  them 
performed  their  task  of  yelling  and  gesticu 
lating  with  the  desperation  of  imminent 
ruin ;  others  implored  the  passers-by  for 
custom  with  the  abject  effect  of  begging 
alms ;  while  in  still  others  this  feverish  ur 
gency  was  disguised  by  an  air  of  martyrdom 
or  of  shamefaced  unwonted  ness,  as  if  ped 
dling  were  beneath  the  dignity  of  their  ha 
bitual  occupations,  and  they  had  been  driven 
to  it  by  sheer  famine,  —  by  the  hopeless 
dearth  of  employment  at  their  own  trades. 

One  of  these  was  a  thick-set  fellow  of 
twenty-five  or  twenty-six,  with  honest,  clever 
blue  eyes.  It  might  be  due  to  the  genial, 
inviting  quality  of  his  face  that  the  Passover 
dishes  whose  praises  he  was  sounding  had 
greater  attraction  for  some  of  the  women 
with  an  "  effectual  demand "  than  those  of 
bis  competitors.  Still,  his  comparative  suc- 
coss  had  not  as  yet  reconciled  him  to  his 
new  calling.  He  was  constantly  gazing 
about  for  a  possible  passer-by  of  his  ac 
quaintance,  and  when  one  came  in  sight  he 
would  seek  refuge  from  identification  in 
closer  communion  with  the  crockery  on  his 
push-cart 


230  A   GHETTO    WEDDING 

"  Buy  nice  dishes  for  the  holidays ! 
Cheap  and  strong!  Buy  dishes  for  Pass 
over  !  "  When  business  was  brisk,  he  sang 
with  a  bashful  relish ;  when  the  interval 
between  a  customer  and  her  successor  was 
growing  too  long,  his  sing-song  would  ac 
quire  a  mournful  ring  that  was  suggestive 
of  the  psalm-chanting  at  an  orthodox  Jew 
ish  funeral. 

He  was  a  cap-blocker,  and  in  the  busy 
season  his  earnings  ranged  from  ten  to  fif 
teen  dollars  a  week.  But  he  had  not  worked 
full  time  for  over  two  years,  and  during  the 
last  three  months  he  had  not  been  able  to 
procure  a  single  day's  employment. 

Goldy,  his  sweetheart,  too,  who  was  em 
ployed  in  making  knee-breeches,  had  hardly 
work  enough  to  pay  her  humble  board  and 
rent.  Nathan,  after  much  hesitation,  was 
ultimately  compelled  to  take  to  peddling ; 
and  the  longed-for  day  of  their  wedding  was 
put  off  from  month  to  month. 

They  had  become  engaged  nearly  two 
years  before  ;  the  wedding  ceremony  having 
been  originally  fixed  for  a  date  some  three 
months  later.  Their  joint  savings  then 
amounted  to  one  hundred  and  twenty  dol 
lars,  —  a  sum  quite  adequate,  in  Nathan's 


A    GHETTO    WEDDING  231 

judgment,  for  a  modest,  quiet  celebration 
and  the  humble  beginnings  of  a  household 
establishment.  Goldy,  however,  summarily 
and  indignantly  overruled  him. 

"  One  does  not  marry  every  day,"  she 
argued,  "  and  when  I  have  at  last  lived  to 
stand  under  the  bridal  canopy  with  my  pre 
destined  one,  I  will  not  do  so  like  a  beggar- 
maid.  Give  me  a  respectable  wedding,  or 
none  at  all,  Nathan,  do  you  hear  ?  " 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  a  "  respectable  wed 
ding  "  was  not  merely  a  casual  expression 
with   Goldy.     Like   its   antithesis,  a  "  slip 
shod  wedding,"  it  played  in  her  vocabulary 
the  part  of  something  like  a  well-established 
scientific  term,  with  a  meaning  as  clearly 
defined  as  that  of  "centrifugal   force"  or 
"  geometrical   progression."      Now,   a   slip 
shod  wedding  was  anything  short  of  a  gown 
of  white  satin  and  slippers  to  match;  two 
carriages  to  bring  the  bride  and  the  bride 
groom  to  the   ceremony,  and  one   to   take 
them  to  their  bridal  apartments  ;  a  wedding 
bard  and  a  band  of  at  least  five  musicians  ; 
a  spacious  ballroom  crowded  with  dancers, 
and  a  feast  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  covers. 
As  to  furniture,  she  refused  to  consider  any 
which  did  not  include  a  pier-glass  and   a 
Brussels  carpet. 


232  A    GHETTO    WEDDING 

Nathan  contended  that  the  items  upon 
which  she  insisted  would  cost  a  sum  far  be 
yond  their  joint  accumulations.  This  she 
met  by  the  declaration  that  he  had  all  along 
been  bent  upon  making  her  the  target  of 
universal  ridicule,  and  that  she  would  rather 
descend  into  an  untimely  grave  than  be 
married  in  a  slipshod  manner.  Here  she 
burst  out  crying;  and  whether  her  tears 
referred  to  the  untimely  grave  or  to  the  slip 
shod  wedding,  they  certainly  seemed  to 
strengthen  the  cogency  of  her  argument ; 
for  Nathan  at  once  proceeded  to  signify  his 
surrender  by  a  kiss,  and  when  ignomiuiously 
repulsed  he  protested  his  determination  to 
earn  the  necessary  money  to  bring  things  to 
the  standard  which  she  held  up  so  uncom 
promisingly. 

Hard  times  set  in.  Nathan  and  Goldy 
pinched  and  scrimped  ;  but  all  their  heroic 
economies  were  powerless  to  keep  their  capi 
tal  from  dribbling  down  to  less  than  one 
hundred  dollars.  The  wedding  was  post 
poned  again  and  again.  Finally  the  curse 
of  utter  idleness  fell  upon  Nathan's  care 
worn  head.  Their  savings  dwindled  apace. 
In  dismay  they  beheld  the  foundation  of 
their  happiness  melt  gradually  away.  Both 


A   GHETTO    WEDDING  233 

were  tired  of  boarding.  Both  longed  for 
the  bliss  and  economy  of  married  life. 
They  grew  more  impatient  and  restless 
every  day,  and  Goldy  made  concession  after 
concession.  First  the  wedding  supper  was 
sacrificed  ;  then  the  pier-mirror  and  the  bard 
were  stricken  from  the  programme ;  and 
these  were  eventually  succeeded  by  the  hired 
hall  and  the  Brussels  carpet. 

After  Nathan  went  into  peddling,  a  few 
days  before  we  first  find  him  hawking  china- 
ware  on  Grand  Street,  matters  began  to 
look  brighter,  and  the  spirits  of  our  be 
trothed  couple  rose.  Their  capital,  which 
had  sunk  to  forty  dollars,  was  increasing 
again,  and  Goldy  advised  waiting  long 
enough  for  it  to  reach  the  sum  necessary  for 
a  slipshod  wedding  and  establishment. 

It  was  nearly  ten  o'clock.  Nathan  was 
absently  drawling  his  "  Buy  nice  dishes  for 
the  holidays!  "  His  mind  was  engrossed 
with  the  question  of  making  peddling  his 
permanent  occupation. 

Presently  he  was  startled  by  a  merry  so 
prano  mocking  him:  "Buy  nice  di-i-shesl 
Mind  that  you  don't  fall  asleep  murmuring 
like  this.  A  big  lot  you  can  make  !  " 


234  A   GHETTO    WEDDING 

Nathan  turned  a  smile  of  affectionate 
surprise  upon  a  compact  little  figure,  small 
to  drollness,  but  sweet  in  the  amusing  grace 
o::  its  diminutive  outlines,  —  an  epitome  of 
exquisite  femininity.  Her  tiny  face  was  as 
comically  lovely  as  her  form :  her  apple4ike 
cheeks  were  firm  as  marble,  and  her  inade 
quate  nose  protruded  between  them  like  the 
result  of  a  hasty  tweak ;  a  pair  of  large, 
round  black  eyes  and  a  thick-lipped  little 
mouth  inundating  it  all  with  passion  and 
restless,  good-natured  shrewdness. 

"  Goldy !  What  brings  you  here  ?  "  Na 
than  demanded,  with  a  fond  look  which  in 
stantly  gave  way  to  an  air  of  discomfort. 
44  You  know  I  hate  you  to  see  me  ped 
dling." 

44  Are  you  really  angry  ?  Bite  the  feather 
bed,  then.  Where  is  the  disgrace  ?  As  if 
you  were  the  only  peddler  in  America !  I 
wish  you  were.  Would  n't  you  make  heaps 
of  money  then !  But  you  had  better  hear 
what  does  bring  me  here.  Nathan,  darling- 
dearest  little  heart,  dearest  little  crown  that 
you  are,  guess  what  a  plan  I  have  hit  upon !  " 
she  exploded  all  at  once.  44  Well,  if  you 
hear  me  out,  and  you  don't  say  that  Goldy 
has  the  head  of  a  cabinet  minister,  then  — 


A    GHETTO    WEDDING  235 

well,  then  you  will  be  a  big  hog,  and  nothing 
else." 

And  without  giving  him  time  to  put  in  as 
much  as  an  interjection,  she  rattled  on,  puff 
ing  for  breath  and  smacking  her  lips  for 
ecstasy.  Was  it  not  stupid  of  them  to  be 
racking  their  brains  about  the  wedding  while 
there  was  such  a  plain  way  of  having  both 
a  "  respectable  "  celebration  and  fine  furni 
ture  —  Brussels  carpet,  pier-glass,  and  all  — 
with  the  money  they  now  had  on  hand  ? 

"  Come,  out  with  it,  then,"  he  said  mo 
rosely. 

But  his  disguised  curiosity  only  whetted 
her  appetite  for  tormenting  him,  and  she 
declared  her  determination  not  to  disclose 
her  great  scheme  before  they  had  reached 
her  lodgings. 

"  You  have  been  yelling  long  enough  to 
day,  anyhow,"  she  said,  with  abrupt  sym 
pathy.  "Do  you  suppose  it  does  not  go  to 
my  very  heart  to  think  of  the  way  you  stand 
out  in  the  cold  screaming  yourself  hoarse  ?  " 

Half  an  hour  later,  when  they  were  alone 
in  Mrs.  Volpiansky's  parlor,  which  was  also 
Goldy's  bedroom,  she  set  about  emptying  his 
pockets  of  the  gross  results  of  the  day's 
business,  and  counting  !ae  money.  This 


236  A    GHETTO    WEDDING 

she  did  with  a  preoccupied,  matter-of-fact 
air,  Nathan  submitting  to  the  operation  with 
fond  and  amused  willingness ;  and  the  sum 
being  satisfactory,  she  went  on  to  unfold  her 
plan. 

"  You  see,'*  she  began,  almost  in  a  whisper, 
and  with  the  mien  of  a  care-worn,  experience- 
laden  old  matron,  "  in  a  week  or  two  we 
shall  have  about  seventy-five  dollars,  shan't 
we?  Well,  what  is  seventy-five  dollars? 
Nothing !  We  could  just  have  the  plainest 
furniture,  and  no  wedding  worth  speaking  of. 
Now,  if  we  have  no  wedding,  we  shall  get 
no  presents,  shall  we  ?  " 

Nathan  shook  his  head  thoughtfully. 

"  Well,  why  should  n't  we  be  up  to  snuff 
and  do  this  way  ?  Let  us  spend  all  our 
money  on  a  grand,  respectable  wedding,  and 
send  out  a  big  lot  of  invitations,  and  then  — 
well,  won't  uncle  Leiser  send  us  a  carpet  or 
a  parlor  set  ?  And  aunt  Beile,  and  cousin 
Shapiro,  and  Charley,  and  Meyerkc,  and 
Wolfke,  and  Bonnie,  and  Sore-Gitke,  — 
won't  each  present  something  or  other,  as  is 
the  custom  among  respectable  people  ?  May 
God  give  us  a  lump  of  good  luck  as  big  as 
the  wedding  present  each  of  them  is  sure  to 
send  us!  Why,  did  not  Beilke  get  a  fine 


A    GHETTO    WEDDING  237 

carpet  from  uncle  when  she  got  married? 
And  am  I  not  a  nearor  relative  than  she  ?  " 

She  paused  to  search  his  face  for  a  sign  of 
approval,  and,  fondly  smoothing  a  tuft  of 
his  dark  hair  into  place,  she  went  on  to 
enumerate  the  friends  to  be  invited  and  the 
gifts  to  be  expected  from  them. 

"  So  you  see,"  she  pursued,  "  we  will  have 
both  a  respectable  wedding  that  we  shan't 
have  to  be  ashamed  of  in  after  years  and  the 
nicest  things  we  could  get  if  we  spent  two 
hundred  dollars.  What  do  you  say?" 

"  What  shall  I  say  ?  "  he  returned  dubi 
ously. 

The  project  appeared  reasonable  enough, 
but  the  investment  struck  him  as  rather  haz 
ardous.  He  pleaded  for  caution,  for  delay  ; 
but  as  he  had  no  tangible  argument  to  pro 
duce,  while  she  stood  her  ground  with  the 
firmness  of  conviction,  her  victory  was  an 
easy  one. 

"  It  will  all  come  right,  depend  upon  it," 
she  said  coar.ingly.  "  You  just  leave  every 
thing  to  me.  Don't  be  uneasy,  Nathan," 
she  added.  "  You  and  I  are  orphans,  and 
you  know  the  Uppermost  does  not  forsake  a 
bride  and  bridegroom  who  have  nobody  to 
take  care  of  them.  If  my  father  were  alive, 


238  A   QHFTTO    WEDDING 

it  would  be  different,1'  she  concluded,  witii  a 
disconsolate  gesture. 

There  was  a  pathetic  pause.  Tears  glis 
tened  in  Goldy's  eyes. 

"  May  your  father  rest  in  a  bright  para 
dise,'*  Nathan  said  feelingly.  "  But  what  is 
the  use  of  crying  ?  Can  you  bring  him  back 
to  life  ?  I  will  be  a  father  to  you." 

"  If  God  be  pleased,"  she  assented. 
"  Would  that  mamma,  at  least,  —  may  she 
be  healthy  a  hundred  and  twenty  years,  — 
would  that  she,  at  least,  were  here  to  attend 
our  wedding !  Poor  mother  !  it  will  break 
her  heart  to  think  that  she  has  not  been 
foreordained  by  the  Uppermost  to  lead  me 
under  the  canopy." 

There  was  another  desolate  pause,  but  it 
was  presently  broken  by  Goldy,  who  ex 
claimed  with  unexpected  buoyancy,  "  By  the 
way,  Nathan,  guess  what  I  did !  I  am  afraid 
you  will  call  me  braggart  and  make  fun  of 
me,  but  I  don't  care,"  she  pursued,  with  a 
playful  pout,  as  she  produced  a  strip  of  car 
pet  from  her  pocketbook.  "  I  went  into  a 
furniture  store,  and  they  gave  me  a  sample 
three  times  as  big  as  this.  I  explained  in 
my  letter  to  mother  that  this  is  the  kind 
of  stuff  that  will  cover  my  floor  when  I  am 


A    GHETTO    WEDDING  239 

married.  Then  I  enclosed  the  sample  in  the 
letter,  and  sent  it  all  to  Russia." 

Nathan  clapped  his  hands  and  burst  out 
laughing.  "  But  how  do  you  know  that  is 
just  the  kind  of  carpet  you  will  get  for  your 
wedding  present?  "  he  demanded,  amazed  as 
much  as  amused. 

"  How  do  I  know  ?  As  if  it  mattered 
what  sort  of  carpet !  I  can  just  see  mamma 
going  the  rounds  of  the  neighbors,  and  show 
ing  off  the  '  costly  table-cloth '  her  daughter 
will  trji.mple  upon.  Won't  she  be  happy  !  " 

Over  a  hundred  invitations,  printed  in  as 
luxurious  a  black-and-gold  as  ever  came  out 
of  an  Essex  Street  hand-press,  were  sent 
out  for  an  early  date  in  April.  Goldy  and 
Nathan  paid  a  month's  rent  in  advance  for 
three  rooms  on  the  second  floor  of  a  Cherry 
Street  tenement-house.  Goldy  regarded  the 
rent  as  unusually  low,  and  the  apartments 
as  the  finest  on  the  East  Side. 

"  Oh,  have  n't  I  got  lovely  rooms  I  "  she 
would  ejaculate,  beaming  with  the  conscious 
ness  of  the  pronoun.  Or,  "You  ought  to 
see  my  rooms !  How  much  do  you  pay  for 
yours?"  Or  again,  "I  have  made  up  my 
mind  to  have  my  parlor  in  the  rear  room.  It 


240  A    GHETTO    WEDDING 

is  as  light  as  the  front  one.  anyhow,  and  I 
want  that  for  a  kitchen,  you  know.  What 
do  you  say  ?  "  For  hours  together  she  would 
go  on  talking  nothing  but  rooms,  rent,  and 
furniture;  every  married  couple  who  had 
recently  moved  into  new  quarters,  or  were 
about  to  do  so,  seemed  bound  to  her  by  the 
ties  of  a  common  cause  ;  in  her  imagination, 
humanity  was  divided  into  those  who  were 
interested  in  the  question  of  rooms,  rent  and 
furniture  and  those  who  were  not,  —  the 
former,  of  whom  she  was  one,  constituting 
the  superior  category;  and  whenever  her 
eye  fell  upon  a  bill  announcing  rooms  to  let, 
she  would  experience  something  akin  to  the 
feeling  with  which  an  artist,  in  passing, 
views  some  accessory  of  his  art. 

It  is  customary  to  send  the  bulkier  wed 
ding  presents  to  a  young  couple's  apartments 
a  few  days  before  they  become  man  and  wife, 
the  closer  relatives  and  friends  of  the  be 
trothed  usually  settling  among  themselves 
what  piece  of  furniture  each  is  to  contribute. 
Accordingly,  Goldy  gave  up  her  work  a  week 
in  advance  of  the  day  set  for  the  great  event, 
in  order  that  she  might  be  on  hand  to  receive 
the  things  when  they  arrived. 

She  went  to  the  empty  little  rooris,  with 


A    GHETTO    WEDDING  241 

her  lunch,  early  in  the  morning,  and  kept 
anxious  watch  t'll  after  nightfall,  when  Na 
than  came  to  take  her  home. 

A  day  passed,  another,  and  a  third,  but 
no  expressman  called  out  her  name.  She 
sat  waiting  and  listening  for  the  rough 
voice,  but  in  vain. 

"  Oh,  it  is  too  early,  anyhow.  I  am  a 
fool  to  be  expecting  anything  so  soon  at 
all,"  she  tried  to  console  herself.  And  she 
waited  another  hour,  and  still  another ;  but 
no  wedding  gift  made  its  appearance. 

"  Well,  there  is  plenty  of  time,  after  all ; 
wedding  presents  do  come  a  day  or  two  be 
fore  the  ceremony,"  she  argued ;  and  again 
she  waited,  and  again  strained  her  ears,  and 
again  her  heart  rose  in  her  throat. 

The  vacuity  of  the  rooms,  freshly  cleaned, 
scrubbed,  and  smelling  of  whitewash,  began 
to  frighten  her.  Her  over-wrought  mind 
was  filled  with  sounds  which  her  over 
strained  ears  did  not  hear.  Yet  there  she 
sat  on  the  window-sill,  listening  and  listen 
ing  for  an  expressman's  voice. 

"Hush,  hush-sh,  hush-sh-sh!"  whispered 
the  walls ;  the  corners  muttered  awful 
threats ;  her  heart  was  ever  and  anon  con 
tracted  with  fear  ;  she  often  thought  herself 


242  A   GHETTO    WEDDING 

on  the  brink  of  insanity  ;  yet  she  stayed  on, 
waiting,  waiting,  waiting. 

At  the  slightest  noise  in  the  hall  she 
would  spring  to  her  feet,  her  heart  beating 
wildly,  only  presently  to  sink  in  her  bosom 
at  finding  it  to  be  some  neighbor  or  a  ped 
dler;  and  so  frequent  were  these  violent 
throbbings  that  Goldy  grew  to  imagine  her 
self  a  prey  to  heart  disease.  Nevertheless 
the  fifth  day  came,  and  she  was  again  at 
her  post,  waiting,  waiting,  waiting  for  her 
wedding  gifts.  And  what  is  more,  when 
Nathan  came  from  business,  and  his  coun 
tenance  fell  as  he  surveyed  the  undisturbed 
emptiness  of  the  rooms,  she  set  a  merry  face 
against  his  rueful  inquiries,  and  took  to 
bantering  him  as  a  woman  quick  to  lose 
heart,  and  to  painting  their  prospects  in 
roseate  hues,  until  she  argued  herself,  if  not 
him,  into  a  more  cheerful  view  of  the  situa 
tion. 

On  the  sixth  day  an  expressman  did  pull 
up  in  front  of  the  Cherry  Street  tenement- 
house,  but  he  had  only  a  cheap  huge  rock 
ing-chair  for  Goldy  and  Nathan  ;  and  as  it 
proved  to  be  the  gift  of  a  family  who  had 
been  set  down  for  nothing  less  than  a  carpet 
or  a  parlor  set,  the  joy  and  hope  which  its 


A    V1IKTTO    WEDDING  243 

aclvont  had  called  forth  turned  to  dire  disap 
pointment  and  despair.  For  nearly  an  hour 
Goldy  Hat  mournfully  rocking  and  striving 
to  picture  how  delightful  it  would  have  been 
if  all  her  anticipations  had  coine  true. 

Presently  there  arrived  a  tiimsy  plush- 
covered  little  corner  table.  It  could  not  huvo 
cont  muro  tluin  a  dollar.  Yot  it  was  tho  gift 
of  a  near  friend,  who  had  boon  roliod  upon 
for  a  pier-glass  or  a  bedroom  sot.  A  little 
later  a  cheap  alarm-clock  and  an  ice-box 
were  brought  in.  That  was  all. 

Occasionally  Goldy  went  to  the  door  to 
take  in  tho  entire  effect ;  but  tho  moro  she 
tried  to  view  tho  parlor  as  half  furnished, 
tho  more  cruelly  did  tho  few  lonely  and 
mismated  things  emphasize  the  remaining 
emptiness  of  the  apartments:  whereupon 
•ho  would  sink  into  her  rocker  and  sic 
motionless,  with  a  drooping  head,  and  then 
desperately  fall  to  swaying  to  and  fro,  as 
though  bent  upon  swinging  herself  out  of 
her  woebegone,  wretched  self 

Still,  when  Nathan  came,  thcro  was  a 
triumphant  twinkle  in  her  eye,  as  she  said, 
pointing  to  the  gifts,  "  Well,  mister,  who 
was  right?  It  is  not  very  bad  for  a  start, 
is  it  ?  You  know  most  people  do  send  their 


244  A   GHETTO    WEDDING 

wedding  presents  after  the  ceremony,  — 
why,  of  course ! "  she  added,  in  a  sort  of  con 
fidential  way.  "  Well,  we  have  invited  a 
big  crowd,  and  all  people  of  no  mean  sort, 
thank  God ;  and  who  ever  heard  of  a  lady 
or  a  gentleman  attending  a  respectable  wed 
ding  and  having  a  grand  wedding  supper, 
and  then  cheating  the  bride  and  the  bride 
groom  out  of  their  present  ?  " 

The  evening  was  well  advanced ;  yet  there 
were  only  a  score  of  people  in  a  hall  that 
was  used  to  hundreds. 

Everybody  felt  ill  at  ease,  and  ever  and 
anon  looked  about  for  the  possible  arrival 
of  more  guests.  At  ten  o'clock  the  dancing 
preliminary  to  the  ceremony  had  not  yet 
ceased,  although  the  few  waltzers  looked  as 
if  they  were  scared  by  the  ringing  echoes  of 
their  own  footsteps  amid  the  austere  solem 
nity  of  the  surrounding  void  and  the  de 
pressing  sheen  of  the  dim  expanse  of  floor. 

The  two  fiddles,  the  cornet,  and  the  clari 
net  were  shrieking  as  though  for  pain,  and 
the  malicious  superabundance  of  gaslight 
was  fiendishly  sneering  at  their  tortures. 
Weddings  and  entertainments  being  scarce 
in  the  Ghetto,  its  musicians  caught  the  con- 


A    GHETTO    WEDDING  245 

tagion  of  misery :  hence  the  greedy,  desper 
ate  gusto  with  which  the  band  plied  their 
instruments. 

At  last  it  became  evident  that  the  assem 
blage  was  not  destined  to  be  larger  than  it 
was,  and  that  it  was  no  use  delaying  the 
ceremony.  It  was,  in  fact,  an  open  secret 
among  those  present  that  by  far  the  greater 
number  of  the  invited  friends  were  kept 
away  by  lack  of  employment :  some  having 
their  presentable  clothes  in  the  pawn  shop  ; 
others  avoiding  the  expense  of  a  wedding 
present,  or  simply  being  too  cruelly  borne 
down  by  their  cares  to  have  a  mind  for  the* 
excitement  of  a  wedding ;  indeed,  some  even 
thought  it  wrong  of  Nathan  to  have  the 
celebration  during  such  a  period  of  hard 
times,  when  everybody  was  out  of  work. 

It  was  a  little  after  ten  when  the  bard  — 
a  tall,  gaunt  man,  with  a  grizzly  beard  and 
a  melancholy  face  —  donned  his  skull-cap, 
and,  advancing  toward  the  dancers,  called 
out  in  a  synagogue  intonation,  "  Come,  ladies, 
let  us  veil  the  bride !  " 

An  odd  dozen  of  daughters  of  Israel 
followed  him  and  the  musicians  into  a  little 
side-room  where  Goldy  was  seated  between 
her  two  brideswomen  (the  wives  of  two  men 


246  A   GHETTO    WEDDING 

who  were  to  attend  upon  the  groom).  Ac 
cording  to  the  orthodox  custom  she  had 
fasted  the  whole  day,  and  aa  a  result  of  this 
and  of  her  gnawing  grief,  added  to  the  awe- 
inspiring  scene  she  had  been  awaiting,  she 
was  pale  as  death ;  the  effect  being  height 
ened  by  the  wreath  and  white  gown  she 
wore.  As  the  procession  came  filing  in,  she 
sat  blinking  her  round  dark  eyes  in  dismay, 
as  if  the  bard  were  an  executioner  come  to 
lead  her  to  the  scaffold. 

The  song  or  address  to  the  bride  usually 
partakes  of  the  qualities  of  prayer  and  ha- 
'rangue,  and  includes  a  melancholy  medita 
tion  upon  life  and  death ;  lamenting  the 
deceased  members  of  the  young  woman's 
family,  bemoaning  her  own  woes,  and  ex 
horting  her  to  discharge  her  sacred  duties 
as  a  wife,  mother,  and  servant  of  God. 
Composed  in  verse  and  declaimed  in  a 
solemn,  plaintive  recitative,  often  broken  by 
the  band's  mournful  refrain,  it  is  sure  to 
fulfill  its  mission  of  eliciting  tears  even 
when  hearts  are  brimful  of  glee.  Imagine, 
then,  the  funereal  effect  which  it  produced 
at  Goldy's  wedding  ceremony. 

The  bard,  half  starved  himself,  sang  the 
anguish  of  his  own  heart ;  the  violins  wept, 


A    GHETTO    WEDDING  247 

the    clarinet   moaned,   the   cornet  and  the 

double-bass  groaned,  each  reciting  the  sad 

tale   of    its   poverty-stricken   master.  He 
began :  — 

"Silence,  good  women,  give  heed  to  my  verses! 
To-night,  bride,  thou  dost  stand  before  the  Uppermost. 
Pray  to  him  to  bless  thy  union, 
To  let  thee  and  thy  mate  live  a  hundred  and  twenty 

peaceful  years, 

To  give  you  your  daily  bread, 
To  keep  hunger  from  your  door." 

Several  women,  including  Goldy,  burst 
into  tears,  the  others  sadly  lowering  their 
gaze.  The  band  sounded  a  wailing  chord, 
and  the  whole  audience  broke  into  loud, 
heartrending  weeping. 

The  bard  went  on  sternly :  — 

"Wail,  bride,  wail  I 
This  is  a  time  of  tears. 
Think  of  thy  past  days : 
Alas  I  they  are  gone  to  return  nevermore." 

Heedless  of  the  convulsive  sobbing  with 
which  the  room  resounded,  he  continued  to 
declaim,  and  at  last,  his  eye  flashing  fire 
and  his  voice  tremulous  with  emotion,  he 
sang  out  in  a  dismal,  uncanny  high  key :  — 

"  And  thy  good  mother  beyond  the  seas, 
And  thy  father  in  his  grave 
Near  where  thy  cradle  was  rooked,  — 
Weep,  bride,  weep ! 


248  A   GHETTO    WEDDING 

Though  his  soul  is  better  off 

Than  we  are  here  underneath 

In  dearth  and  cares  and  ceaseless  pangs,  — 

Weep,  sweet  bride,  weep !  " 

Then,  in  the  general  outburst  that  fol 
lowed  the  extemporaneous  verse,  there  was 
a  cry,  —  "  The.  bride  is  fainting !  Water ! 
quick!" 

"  Murderer  that  you  are ! "  flamed  out  an 
elderly  matron,  with  an  air  of  admiration 
for  the  bard's  talent  as  much  as  of  wrath 
for  the  far-fetched  results  it  achieved. 

Goldy  was  brought  to,  and  the  rest  of  the 
ceremony  passed  without  accident.  She  sub 
mitted  to  everything  as  in  a  dream.  When 
the  bridegroom,  escorted  by  two  attendants, 
each  carrying  a  candelabrum  holding  lighted 
candles,  came  to  place  the  veil  over  her  face, 
she  stared  about  as  though  she  failed  to 
realize  the  situation  or  to  recognize  Nathan. 
When,  keeping  time  to  the  plaintive  strains 
of  a  time-honored  tune,  she  was  led,  blind 
folded,  into  the  large  hall  and  stationed  be 
side  the  bridegroom  under  the  red  canopy, 
and  then  marched  around  him  seven  times, 
she  obeyed  instructions  and  moved  about 
with  the  passivity  of  a  hypnotic.  After  the 
Seven  Blessings  had  been  recited,  when  the 


A    GHETTO    WEDDING  249 

cantor,  gently  lifting  the  end  of  her  veil, 
presented  the  wineglass  to  her  lips,  she 
tasted  its  contents  with  the  air  of  an  invalid 
taking  medicine.  Then  she  felt  the  ring 
slip  down  her  finger,  and  heard  Nathan  say, 
"  Be  thou  dedicated  to  me  by  this  ring,  ac 
cording  to  the  laws  of  Moses  and  Israel." 

Whereupon  she  said  to  herself,  "  Now  I 
am  a  married  woman ! "     But  somehow,  at 
this   moment   the  words   were    meaningless 
sounds  to  her.     She  knew  she  was  married, 
but  could  not  realize  what  it  implied.     As 
Nathan   crushed    the   wineglass    underfoot, 
and  the  band  struck  up  a  cheerful  melody, 
and   the   gathering  shouted,   "  Good   luck ! 
Good  luck !  "  and  clapped  their  hands,  while 
the   older  women   broke   into  a  wild   hop, 
Goldy  felt  the  relief  of  having  gone  through 
a  great  ordeal.     But  still  she  was  not  dis 
tinctly  aware  of  any  change  in  her  position. 
Not  until  fifteen  minutes  later,  when  she 
found  herself  in  the  basement,  at  the  head 
of  one  of  three  long  tables,  did  the  realiza 
tion  of  her  new  self  strike  her  consciousness 
full  in  the  face,  as  it  were. 

The  dining-room  was  nearly  as  large  as 
the  dancing-hall  on  the  floor  above.  It  was 
aa  brightly  illuminated,  and  the  three  tables, 


250  A   QHETTO    WEDDING 

which  ran  almost  its  entire  length,  were  set 
for  a  hundred  and  fifty  guests.  Yet  there 
were  barely  twenty  to  occupy  them.  The 
effect  was  still  more  depressing  than  in  the 
dancing-room.  The  vacant  benches  and  the 
untouched  covers  still  more  agonizingly  ex 
aggerated  the  emptiness  of  the  room,  in 
which  the  sorry  handful  of  a  company  lost 
themselves. 

Goldy  looked  at  the  rows  of  plates,  spoons, 
forks,  knives,  and  they  weighed  her  down 
with  the  cold  dazzle  of  their  solemn,  pom 
pous  array. 

"  I  am  not  the  Goldy  I  used  to  be,"  she 
said  to  herself.  "  I  am  a  married  woman, 
like  mamma,  or  auntie,  or  Mrs.  Volpiansky. 
And  we  have  spent  every  cent  we  had  on 
this  grand  wedding,  and  now  we  are  left 
without  money  for  furniture,  and  there  are 
no  guests  to  send  us  any,  and  the  supper 
will  be  thrown  out,  and  everything  is  lost, 
and  I  am  to  blame  for  it  all !  " 

The  glittering  plates  seemed  to  hold  whis 
pered  converse  and  to  exchange  winks  and 
grins  at  her  expense.  She  transferred  her 
glance  to  the  company,  and  it  appeared  as  if 
they  were  vainly  forcing  themselves  to  par 
take  of  the  food,  —  as  though  they,  too,  were 


A  GHETTO   WEDDING  251 

looked  out  of  countenance  by  that  ruthless 
sparkle  of  the  unused  plates. 

Nervous  silence  hung  over  the  room,  and 
the  reluctant  jingle  of  the  score  of  knives 
and  forks  made  it  more  awkward,  more 
enervating,  every  second.  Even  the  bard 
had  not  the  heart  to  break  the  stillness  by 
the  merry  rhymes  he  had  composed  for  the 
occasion. 

Goldy  was  overpowered.  She  thought 
she  was  on  the  verge  of  another  fainting 
spell,  and,  shutting  her  eyes  and  setting  her 
teeth,  she  tried  to  imagine  herself  dead. 
Nathan,  who  was  by  her  side,  noticed  it. 
He  took  her  hand  under  the  table,  and, 
pressing  it  gently,  whispered,  "  Don't  take 
it  to  heart.  There  is  a  God  in  heaven." 

She  could  not  make  out  his  words,  but 
she  felt  their  meaning.  As  she  was  about 
to  utter  some  phrase  of  endearment,  her 
heart  swelled  in  her  throat,  and  a  piteous, 
dovelike,  tearful  look  was  :J1  the  response 
she  could  make. 

By  and  by,  however,  when  the  foaming 
lager  was  served,  tongues  were  loosened, 
and  the  bard,  although  distressed  by  the 
meagre  collection  in  store  for  him,  but 
stirred  by  an  ardent  desire  to  relieve  the 


252  A  GHETTO   WEDDING 

insupportable  wretchedness  of  the  evening, 
outdid  himself  in  offhand  acrostics  and  wit 
ticisms.  Needless  to  say  that  his  efforts 
were  thankfully  rewarded  with  unstinted 
laughter ;  and  as  the  room  rang  with  merri 
ment,  the  gleaming  rows  of  undisturbed 
plates  also  seemed  to  join  in  the  general 
hubbub  of  mirth,  and  to  be  laughing  a 
hearty,  kindly  laugh. 

Presently,  amid  a  fresh  outbreak  of  deaf 
ening  hilarity,  Goldy  bent  close  to  Nathan's 
ear  and  exclaimed  with  sobbing  vehemence, 
"  My  husband  !  My  husband  !  My  hus 
band!" 

"  My  wife  !  "  he  returned  in  her  ear. 

"Do  you  know  what  you  are  to  me  now?" 
she  resumed.  "  A  husband !  And  I  am 
your  wife !  Do  you  know  what  it  m?ans,  — 
do  you,  do  you,  Nathan  ?  "  she  insisted,  with 
frantic  emphasis. 

"  I  do,  my  little  sparrow ;  only  don't 
worry  over  the  wedding  presents." 

It  was  after  midnight,  and  even  the 
Ghetto  was  immersed  iu  repose.  Goldy  and 
Nathan  were  silently  wending  their  way  to 
the  three  empty  little  rooms  where  they 
were  destined  to  have  their  first  joint  home. 


A  GHETTO   WEDDING  253 

They  wore  the  wedding  attire  which  they 
had  rented  for  the  evening:  he  a  swallowtail 
coat  and  high  hat,  and  she  a  white  satin 
gown  and  slippers,  her  head  uncovered, — 
the  wreath  and  veil  done  up  in  a  newspaper, 
in  Nathan's  hand. 

They  had  gone  to  the  wedding  in  car 
riages,  which  had  attracted  large  crowds 
both  at  the  point  of  departure,  and  in  front 
of  the  hall ;  and  of  course  they  had  expected 
to  make  their  way  to  their  new  home  in  a 
similar  "respectable'*  manner.  Toward  the 
close  of  the  last  dance,  after  supper,  they 
found,  however,  that  some  small  change  was 
all  they  possessed  in  the  world. 

The  last  strains  of  music  were  dying 
away.  The  guests,  in  their  hats  and  bon 
nets,  were  taking  leave.  Everybody  seemed 
in  a  hurry  to  get  away  to  his  own  world, 
and  to  abandon  the  young  couple  to  their 
fate. 

Nathan  would  have  borrowed  a  dollar  or 
two  of  some  friend.  "Let  us  go  home  as 
behooves  a  bride  and  bridegroom,"  he  said. 
"  There  is  a  God  in  heaven :  he  will  not  for 
sake  us." 

But  Goldy  would  not  hear  of  betraying 
the  full  measure  of  their  poverty  to  their 


254  A  GHETTO   WEDDING 

friends.  "  No !  no !  "  she  retorted  testily. 
"  I  am  not  going  to  let  you  pay  a  dollar 
and  a  half  for  a  few  blocks'  drive,  like  a 
Fifth  Avenue  nobleman.  We  can  walk,'* 
she  pursued,  with  the  grim  determination  of 
one  bent  upon  self -chastisement.  "  A  poor 
woman  who  dares  spend  every  cent  on  a 
wedding  must  be  ready  to  walk  after  the 
wedding." 

When  they  found  themselves  alone  in  the 
deserted  street,  they  were  so  overcome  by  a 
sense  of  loneliness,  of  a  kind  of  portentous, 
haunting  emptiness,  that  they  could  not 
speak.  So  on  they  trudged  in  dismal  si 
lence  ;  she  leaning  upon  his  arm,  and  he  ten 
derly  pressing  her  to  his  side. 

Their  way  lay  through  the  gloomiest  and 
roughest  part  of  the  Seventh  Ward.  The 
neighborhood  frightened  her,  and  she  clung 
closer  to  her  escort.  At  one  corner  they 
passed  some  men  in  front  of  a  liquor  saloon. 

"  Look  at  dem  !  Look  at  dem  !  A  sheeny 
fellar  an'  his  bride,  I  '11  betch  ye !  "  shouted 
a  husky  voice.  "  Jes'  cornin'  from  de  wed  - 
din'." 

"  She  ain't  no  bigger  'n  a  peanut,  is  she  ?  " 
The  simile  was  greeted  with  a  horse-laugh. 

"  Look  a  here,  young  fellar,  what 's   de 


A  GHETTO    WEDDING  255 

madder  wid  carryin'  dat  lady  of  yourn  in 
your  vest-pocket?" 

When  Nathan  and  Goldy  were  a  block 
away,  something  like  a  potato  or  a  carrot 
struck  her  in  the  back.  At  the  same  time 
the  gang  of  loafers  on  the  corner  broke  into 
boisterous  merriment.  Nathan  tried  to  face 
about,  but  she  restrained  him. 

"  Don't !  They  might  kill  you !  "  she 
whispered,  and  relapsed  into  silence. 

He  made  another  attempt  to  disengage 
himself,  as  if  for  a  desperate  attack  upon 
her  assailants,  but  she  nestled  close  to  his 
side  and  held  him  fast,  her  every  fibre  tin 
gling  with  the  consciousness  of  the  shelter 
she  had  in  him. 

"  Don't  mind  them,  Nathan,"  she  said. 

And  as  they  proceeded  on  their  dreary 
way  through  a  sombre,  impoverished  street, 
with  here  and  there  a  rustling  tree,  —  a 
melancholy  witness  of  its  better  days,  — 
they  felt  a  stream  of  happiness  uniting  them, 
as  it  coursed  through  the  veins  of  both,  and 
they  were  filled  with  a  blissful  sense  of  one 
ness  the  like  of  which  they  had  never  tasted 
before.  So  happy  were  they  that  the  gang 
behind  them,  and  the  bare  rooms  toward 
which  they  were  directing  their  steps,  and 


256  A  GHETTO   WEDDING 

the  miserable  failure  of  the  wedding,  all 
suddenly  appeared  too  insignificant  to  en 
gage  their  attention,  —  paltry  matters  alien 
to  their  new  life,  remote  from  the  enchanted 
world  in  which  they  now  dwelt. 

The. very  notion  of  a  relentless  void  ab 
ruptly  turned  to  a  beatific  sense  of  their 
own  seclusion,  of  there  being  only  them 
selves  in.  the  universe,  to  live  and  to  delight 
in  each  other. 

"  Don't  mind  them,  Nathan  darling,"  she 
repeated  mechanically,  conscious  of  nothing 
but  the  tremor  of  happiness  in  her  voice. 

"  I  should  give  it  to  them !  "  he  responded, 
gathering  her  still  closer  to  him.  "  I  should 
show  them  how  to  touch  my  Goldy,  my 
pearl,  my  birdie  !  " 

They  dived  into  the  denser  gloom  of  a 
side-street. 

A  gentle  breeze  ran  past  and  ahead  of 
them,  proclaiming  the  bride  and  the  bride 
groom.  An  old  tree  whispered  overhead  its 
tender  felicitations. 


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